Michael Snape Stephen Mori

Stephen Mori is Michael Snape’s art dealer. Having had an exhibition at the Mori Gallery in December/January, Snape spent five weeks with Mori and couldn’t resist doing a portrait of him.

Snape is predominantly a sculptor. In fact, he only began painting again three years ago after a break of 20 years. ‘I started painting in the hot months because using steel is hot work and my skeleton isn’t what it used to be and doesn’t like heavy work all year round any more,’ he says.

Initially he thought he’d forgotten how to paint but once he looked at it as two-dimensional sculpture and applied the same thinking, he had no difficulty. The use of multi-panelled paintings is something he is currently exploring so it happened of its own accord with the portrait of Mori. It also seemed to suit the subject.

‘He’s a very strange character and it’s very hard to get him in one picture so it was interesting to bring him up close, put him far away, see the way in which space around him changed the figure,’ says Snape.

Snape also has a work selected in this year’s Wynne Prize.