Michael Zavros has captivated art audiences and collectors with his extraordinary technical prowess and exacting, yet delicately stylised, realism for more than 20 years. This major publication – produced to accompany the artist’s first Australian state gallery survey exhibition – profiles all Zavros’s significant themes, including fashion; European palaces; luxury vehicles; his children; Narcissus; still life; surrogate self-portraits in photography; reflections on his Greek heritage; and more.

Despite widespread commercial success and being the recipient of numerous prizes, Zavros has polarised critics, with his work either praised or dismissed as materialistic and representing aspirational individualism. Michael Zavros: The Favourite offers fresh insight into his work through an exploration of the personal drives and inspirations that inform his practice, often expressed in the artist’s own words. In addition, two conservators consider Zavros’s materials and making processes, separate to his art’s well-known subject matter.

Featuring sumptuous full-colour reproductions of Zavros’s preternaturally detailed and realist paintings, as well as intimate photographs of the artist in his studio and a wealth of quotes drawn from new interviews, Michael Zavros: The Favourite is an essential publication for all connoisseurs of Australian contemporary art.

Contributions by Peter McKay, Paola Di Trocchio, Robert Leonard, and Gillian Osmond
Hardcover
240 pages
21.8 x 28.7 cm