Michael Nock
Michael Nock is a practicing artist primarily focusing on oil painting, his works are imbued with the deep emotion that is etched into the landscape of Gallipoli.
On his encounter with history in Gallipoli, Nock commented,“The Gallipoli trip had a stronger and deeper impact on me than I would have imagined at the outset. The landscape was beautiful. Greece in the far distance. Pristine beaches and spectacular coast line. Troy across the Dardanelles. Anzac Cove in front, Shrapnel Gully and the Sphinx above. But then the imagination kicked in. Machine guns on the high ground. Dysentery and death below. One could not separate out the history that lay buried beneath the serenity.
Ancient history stretching back to Helen and the beginning of western civilization, but more immediately the history of the battle for Gallipoli in the first world war, and the sacrifice and bravery of so many young Australians and New Zealanders. Some tomb stones bore inscriptions for 16, 17, 18 year old farm boys, 50 year old lawyers and accountants with families. The magnitude of the sacrifice and what little was really achieved at the end of the day was sometimes unbearable and certainly at odds with what we were looking at.”
He holds both a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Master of Fine Arts from the Californian Institute of the Arts (Cal Arts) and currently serves on the board of Trustees of Cal Arts. He is also involved in numerous community based art initiatives through a non-profit foundation he established in 2013.
Nock also holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of New South Wales, Australia, with over 35 years experience working in the financial services industry. In 2012 Nock acquired Art-Lease, the first company in Hong Kong to provide art-leasing services to corporations.
Image: Sphinx from Shrapnel Valley, 2014, oil on sealed paper,
Courtesy the artist
In this preview of the Your Friend the Enemy documentary, meet some of the artists involved as they first encounter the surrounds of Gallipoli.
Including your local newsagent, you can also purchase the Your Friend the Enemy Special Edition at select Art Gallery shops listed here.
In commemoration of the centenary of the Gallipoli campaign this year, Your Friend the Enemy curated by John McDonald, is opening at S.H. Ervin Gallery.
The Your Friend the Enemy trip wasn’t nearly finished after the artists flew out from Turkey in 2014. The project had only just begun.
As we near the launch of the Your Friend the Enemy exhibitions, we look back to the personal links that inspired Your Friend the Enemy.
For artist Idris Murphy The Lost Diggers, accompanied by a show at the State Library held personal connections to the ANZAC legend.
Despite its geographical distance from Australia, Gallipoli holds great relevance and connection to contemporary Australian history. Linked by personal stories and histories to the battles...
After three days straddling the Golden Horn, there is a sense of itchy feet; artists eager to get into the field, but at the same...
Deirdre Bean • Elisabeth Cummings • Steve Lopes • Guy Maestri • Euan Macleod • Idris Murphy • Michael Nock • Peter O’Doherty • Susan...
Deirdre's watercolour paintings reveal the beautiful forms that can be found within nature.
Cummings works quietly and consistently. Her work, while influenced by landscape,her process is led by intuition.
Steve Lopes is a painter and printmaker known for his figurative landscape works.
Macleod produces dark, expressive landscape paintings
Maestri’s work documents the many journeys he has made across the country and the experience of the Australian landscape.
Your Friend the Enemy – the title of this exhibition – is inspired by a recent discovery of 160 letters written by grandfather Charles Idris...
Peter O'Doherty's paintings are tonal assemblages of oblique geometric detail imbued with dense shadow and vivid Australian light.
Susan O’Doherty is a mixed media artist whose work ranges from large abstract paintings through to small mixed media assemblages as well as acrylic portraits.
Holding a personal connection to the trip, New Zealand artist Stanley Palmer’s Father fought at Gallipoli.
Travelling informs the work of respected Australian contemporary painter Amanda Penrose Hart.
The landscape has always been Robba's muse, but in this expedition the meaning goes beyond the surface of the painting.
Earthy tones and layered washes result in the vibrant flowing landscapes by Luke Scibberas.