Born in London, Mike Francis is commonly described as a realist painter. Whilst training to become an illustrator at Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design, Mike also pursued his own career as a painter.
Mike’s artistic achievements were realised when he became the winner of several prominent competitions and held his first one-man show in London in 1960. Just over a decade later, Mike won the National Gallery's 150th anniversary poster award - the only contemporary artist’s work to appear on a National Gallery poster. Many national and international exhibitions followed from 1974 onwards. His works were shown at exhibitions and art fairs in Paris, Basel, Cologne, Stockholm, Munich, Washington DC, New York and London, with several works purchased for private and public collections including: Jamaican Embassy; Urs Schwarzenbach; Pears collection; Ace Publicity Shell, Prince Murat, Paris; Bob Monkhouse; Robbie Williams, UK; Chris Wright, UK. In 1998 Mike had a solo show with Whitford Fine Art, London (Deja vu) composed of Super-Realist works.
Francis’ work, although technically real, also conveys his dry sense of humour, adding a new dimension to familiar images, dreams and fantasies.