Michael Schlitz’s large format, relief woodblock prints not only require physical strength, manual dexterity and mental determination but relic traits such as artistic skill, knowledge, patience and time. These traits will never lose their value especially when the work is sympathetic and evocative with regard to the human condition and the condition of nature.
Though remarkably distinct, Michael’s work remains difficult to describe; uncaptured by language, his images are as sure and as fleeting as shadows. Light moves through Michael’s line work the way it does through the tree canopy, across the surface of water, or over ridges in sand. Though the images are darkened by detail and heavy with ink, they’re infinitely light, impossibly materially transient. There is a total surrender of figure to ground, as if temporally the body moves as landscape —rippling amongst— in a kind of longing for a consumption by earth, by darkness, or by another. There is a magical weightlessness in such confident mark-making, a swiftness of hand, a heaviness of humour and a softness of hope.
Michael Schlitz has returned us to the ancient craft of the relief woodcut which was used in Egypt, Europe and Asia for mass production of textile printing, spreading the word of God and making of pictures, respectively.
Michael is a past winner of both the prestigious Hutchins Art Prize as well as the Rick Amor Print Prize. He has exhibited throughout Australia, in China and the United Kingdom. His work can be found in the collections of the Australian National Gallery, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Art Gallery of South Australia, Queensland Art Gallery and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, as well as numerous private and university collections. Since 1997, Michael has held positions lecturing in drawing and printmaking at the University of Tasmania, RMIT, The Australian National University and the University of Southern Queensland.