The Face. Jan issue 72 2003. Article by Tom Calvocoressi

Mutoid cats, bubblegum pop, designer t-shirts, slutty girls, pink hearts - some of the ingredients of an Antony Micallef painting. Add super-skilled, often disturbing brushwork, with references to old masters and cartoon graphics, and you get an idea why a cult following of Micallef's work has emerged. 'I'll be listening to music, watching TV, or see someone in the street and something just clicks and it ends up on a canvas,' explains Antony, who day jobs as a graphic designer in hipsville Brighton. But it was a trip to Japan that was his biggest influence: 'The culture there is completely twisted. You have that real sugar side, but there's always a dark side underneath. I'm trying to look at that in-between space in pop.' And the popocracy are looking at him too. At the recent Perverse Pop exhibition at the Catto Contemporary Gallery in London, his paintings grabbed the attention of REM rocker Michael Stipe. But isn't Antony anti-consumerist? 'Not at all. I totally embrace it - but then I turn it on its head. It's all about "sick glamour".' Just as he celebrates beauty and the beast within - the subversive dark heart of pop and fashion - Antony shakes up art and the idea of 'portraiture', too: 'It's all bullshit. I do paint pictures of people, but there's a lot more involved.