Music like Michael English

Michael English(5 September 1941 - 25 September 2009) was a British artist known for poster designs he created in the 1960s for musicians such as Jimi Hendrix in collaboration with Nigel Waymouth and the design company they established, Hapshash and the Coloured Coat, and for several series of hyper realist paintings in the 1970s and 1980s.

English was born in Bicester, Oxfordshire in 1941, the son of an RAF flying officer. His early childhood was spent moving around England with long holidays spent in the South West of Ireland where his mother came from. Throughout his childhood, he developed a fascination with drawing, often technical subjects such as aeroplanes and trains both of which remained a fascination throughout his life. His 'Machine Paintings' in the late 1970s and 1980s are a testament to this. In 1962 he entered Ealing College of Art where he took Roy Ascott's radical Groundcourse which had a major impact on his thinking. His work included commissioned paintings for both private individuals and public organisations, advertising art for companies such as Porsche and stamp series for the Royal Mail such as the 'British Buses' or 'British Motorcycles' He lived in London with his wife, Jaki, and continued to work right up until his death in 2009 following a long illness.