Migraine I

My richly-textured paintings layer materials such as soil, photographs and newspaper beneath the paint, creating emotionally expressive works that evoke ideas of memory, place and time.

As a long-time migraine sufferer, I painted Migraine I as a visceral expression of an attack. The background text is my recorded phone message when I lived in Hungary: 'There's no one at home, please leave a message after the tone'. The work also plays on the similarity of the words 'migraine' and 'migrant'. The experience of migration, which splits identity into two, is a key theme in my art practice.

Migraine I can either be hung by itself, or displayed together with its companion piece Migraine II (available for purchase separately) to form a striking diptych. Both works celebrate human resilience, and the power of art to communicate and transform experience.

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I grew up in Leicester in the UK's industrial Midlands, and my restlessness and curiosity took me to London and Budapest before I finally found my place in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia. I have always loved making art and expressing myself creatively through images and words. After a youth mis-spent working as a Chartered Accountant, I finally earned my freedom and was able to pursue a creative life. At first my focus was on drawing and photography, but in 2018 I completed a course in Painting Techniques at the Victorian College of the Arts, and fell in love with the possibilities of paint. The following year I began painting professionally under the name Dorian.

My father was a Hungarian refugee and his story, together with my own migration journey, inspire me to create paintings that evoke echoes of place, memory and time. My emotionally expressive works layer photographs, newspaper and other materials beneath the paint. I often include dirt or sand in my paintings to express ideas of home, and to reflect on what it means to be Australian.

Visits to my studio on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung country are welcome, by arrangement.