Michael Schlitz: dusty tropes transient pasts
Michael Schlitz is a contemporary Australian artist whose practice is grounded in the tradition of woodcut printmaking. Though his technique is ancient, Schlitz brings to it a deeply modern sensibility, using the medium not only as a way to produce images but as a physical, performative act of mark-making. His works are often exhibited as both prints and carved wooden matrices, emphasising the significance of process as much as product.
Central to Schlitz’s imagery are lone, elongated human figures depicted in ambiguous postures. These figures are stark and symbolic, sometimes appearing to perform rituals or gestures of burden, balance, or transformation. They exist in void-like spaces, stripped of background or setting, allowing the viewer to focus entirely on their gesture, expression, and the emotional resonance of their form. The simplicity of line and economy of colour in his prints enhance their emotive power, evoking themes of solitude, vulnerability, and endurance.
There is a tactile, almost sculptural quality to Schlitz’s prints. The carved lines are rough and deliberate, drawing attention to the laborious nature of his practice. In choosing to exhibit the carved blocks themselves, Schlitz invites viewers to reflect on the physicality and permanence of the creative act. The process of carving—removing material to reveal an image—becomes a metaphor for uncovering psychological or emotional truths.
Schlitz’s work is steeped in an awareness of Australian landscape and cultural identity, though not always in direct or literal ways. His figures can be read as archetypes navigating the internal terrain of the self as much as the physical world, bridging personal mythology with broader human experience.
Through his art, Michael Schlitz reaffirms the continued relevance of printmaking as a medium of introspection and intensity. His work speaks quietly but profoundly, carving meaning into the surface of wood and mind alike.
