A Room Laced With Black Dog Cruelty is an active working out of the lingering effects of grief. Grief is persistent and insidious, it sits amidst the shadows of a room eager to take reign over stillness at any given time.
Through my practice, I seek to give physical form to internal emotions. The compulsion to express myself derives from my first-hand experience of grief. Living with the reality of my artist-father's premature death during my childhood, my life experiences since then have been coloured by his absence. I find that both my father's life and my own are intricately entwined and unsettlingly aligned.
I work in a multi-disciplinary manner, embracing traditional printmaking and painting/ drawing techniques. This fusion allows for a looseness of application to the work's surface and permits a freedom from the conscious in the act of creation.
![*Amidst Flesh & Blood*, dark-field monotype, 96 x 68cm](https://2023.ncad.works/media/pages/graduates/michael-flavin/d9dc9461c0-1684735895/1-1-michaelflavin-1500x-q90.jpg)
Amidst Flesh & Blood, dark-field monotype, 96 x 68cm
![*Head of Dionysus*, oil on canvas, 23 x 30cm](https://2023.ncad.works/media/pages/graduates/michael-flavin/9aff475ec3-1684735895/2-2-michaelflavin-1500x-q90.jpg)
Head of Dionysus, oil on canvas, 23 x 30cm
![*Head of Dionysus* (detail)](https://2023.ncad.works/media/pages/graduates/michael-flavin/c5ee968c11-1684735895/3-3-michaelflavin-1500x-q90.jpg)
Head of Dionysus (detail)
![*Black Dog*, carborundum, 21 x 27cm](https://2023.ncad.works/media/pages/graduates/michael-flavin/f23058f17e-1684735895/4-4-michaelflavin-1500x-q90.jpg)
Black Dog, carborundum, 21 x 27cm
![*Poor Lazarus*, dark-field monotype, 45 x 62cm](https://2023.ncad.works/media/pages/graduates/michael-flavin/57597fe725-1684735895/5-5-michaelflavin-1500x-q90.jpg)
Poor Lazarus, dark-field monotype, 45 x 62cm
![*Scald My Skin*, oil on canvas, 100 x 120cm](https://2023.ncad.works/media/pages/graduates/michael-flavin/1ceb458b76-1684735895/6-6-michaelflavin-1500x-q90.jpg)
Scald My Skin, oil on canvas, 100 x 120cm
![*Scald My Skin*, oil on canvas, 100 x 120cm](https://2023.ncad.works/media/pages/graduates/michael-flavin/e19b2df86c-1684735895/7-7-michaelflavin-1500x-q90.jpg)
Scald My Skin, oil on canvas, 100 x 120cm
![*The Fool*, patinated cast bronze on granite, 20cm](https://2023.ncad.works/media/pages/graduates/michael-flavin/11d2625532-1684735895/8-8-michaelflavin-1500x-q90.jpg)
The Fool, patinated cast bronze on granite, 20cm
![*Blackbird Familiarity*, carborundum, 30 x 40cm](https://2023.ncad.works/media/pages/graduates/michael-flavin/806433a80f-1684735895/9-9-michaelflavin-1500x-q90.jpg)
Blackbird Familiarity, carborundum, 30 x 40cm
![*Drypoints I, II & III*, drypoint etching, 22 x 30cm; 26 x 38cm; 22 x 28cm](https://2023.ncad.works/media/pages/graduates/michael-flavin/9f8d3fbb58-1684735895/10-10-michaelflavin-1500x-q90.jpg)
Drypoints I, II & III, drypoint etching, 22 x 30cm; 26 x 38cm; 22 x 28cm