Mick Rafferty's practice may best described as eclectic. He does not subscribe to the tenet that pursuing just one particular route of development is the only means of endeavour. There exist many commonalities, shared perspectives and adaptable aesthetic and theoretical values applicable to most aspects of art production. The artist regards it as a challenge to work within a variety of subjects, approaches and media whilst maintaining a consistency and a workable systematic and stylistic formula. Gerhardt Richter wrote that successful production of art is a series of not yets and a yes at the end . A wonderfully simple description of a viable artistic process.
Recent paintings exploiting the physicality of pourable paints (Gravitas and Gravity Series), have been completed within the last three years. Beaucoup de Parfums is one such piece. All of these paintings are carried out with commercial gloss paints. The consistency and "pourability" of such paint render it the only medium suitable for the subject and content of these works. These pieces explore behaviour and consequence. Paint may be seen as a metaphor for some human traits, be they well mannered, wayward, cooperative, dysfunctional, discordant, harmonious, complementary, aggressive, biddable or demanding. This can be perceived as the message of and within these works, or you can simply enjoy them for the visual and playful surprises and memory-jogs that the physical and subliminal content may contain.
Mick Rafferty has exhibited in 25 locations in the UK and abroad, most of which were solo shows, including University of Warwick, Coventry University, Upton House; Poole, Leamington Spa, Earlsdon, Huntingdon, Bristol, Banbury, Hoxton-London,Varenna- Italy, Malvern Theatres in 2009 and September / October 2010 at The Knapp Gallery, Regents Park.