If there was a meeting point between illustration and poetry, that is where we would meet Michael Dumontier and Neil Farber.
Michael Dumontier and Neil Farber are two Winnipeg artists, born in 1974 and 1975 respectively, who met at the University of Manitoba, Canada. It was during their studies that they founded the Royal Art Lodge, a sort of collective formed by young artists and officially disbanded in 2008. However, Michael and Niel have never been separated and still create small collaborative works of art that are successful both in the gallery world – their work can be found in the permanent collections of museums such as the National Gallery of Canada, the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Centro De Arte Caja De Burgos in Spain, Takashi Murakami in Tokyo and many others – and on social media. Their Instagram profile @m_d_n_f_ is followed by 345,000 people who find themselves in their work.
Their production consists of small works made with acrylic paint on wood and characterised by the combination of image and text. Sometimes we see only a coloured background with an animal, a flower or a house, in practice subjects that could mean anything if they were not always accompanied by short phrases that give meaning to the image.
Sometimes sad and melancholic, other times sarcastic and bordering on black humour, Michael Dumontier and Neil Farber make illustrations not just for everyone, but for every kind of mood. We’ve selected just a few, but follow their Instagram profile to make sure you don’t miss any.
