Art: Michael Swaney's colourful work is fun and strange in equal parts

If you tend to find yourself drawn to the bright, the colourful and the ever so slightly obscure then artist Michael Swaney is definitely one to add to your bookmarks bar. His own very unique brand of painting treads the fine line between the familiar and the strange, with brightly coloured faces, mouse people, beautiful mosaic-like pottery and a whole heap of thumbs pointed skywards.

Geometric shapes and clown-like primary colours all have a place here, coming together to make up a mishmash of colours and references which, when placed within Michael’s brilliantly ornate frames and patterns, all seem to come together to make a new kind of chaotic harmony. There’s detail upon detail in there too, from subtle criticism of social media platforms to weirdly absent-faced characters, which has us wondering if perhaps there’s more to the subtext of Michael’s work than meets the eye.