MIKE CHAVEZ

She-Male of the Species Filipino-born artist Mike Chavez, who lives and works in Melbourne, is concerned with notions of identity. On a recent visit back to his home country his imagination was gripped by those Filipino women known as ‘bakla'. "We don't really have an equivalent in Australia," Chavez says. "These transsexuals are socially acceptable - there is no stigma and they have a special function in society. Even in the poorest ghetto, where everyone around them is in r

MIGS Mike Chavez aka Migs is a bit of an enigma; I had some trouble finding information about him and his work. What I did find out is that Migs is a Melbourne based artist who used to work as an illustrator for Disney, Dreamworks and Warner Brothers but now is a solo artist exploring aspects of post modernism and his Filipino ancestry. In an attempt to find out more I recently e-mailed Migs asking him about the nature of his upcoming exhibition: GHETTO SUPERSTAR. On initi

Lucky Country 2009 screen print & acrylic on perspex 2x3 metres I just finished this whopper of a commission for a client in Perth. The brief was to create a large work that could be mounted on an exterior wall. This led to my first painting on perspex (plexiglass). A breakthrough moment.

Ghetto Superstar Some months ago I was stirred and intrigued by Michael Chavez’s latest exhibit and made a special trip to see his latest work, Ghetto Superstar at Mossgreen Gallery in Melbourne. At first glance I was disappointed. Where were his duplicated images that so strikingly uncover the subjects’ complex, conflicting identities? Where were the fascinating layers of meaning, simultaneously hidden and revealed? For me, those duplications and layers had been the strength