Biography
Michael Stanley (1975-2012) studied at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, Oxford University (1992-1995) and returned to the city to become Director of Modern Art Oxford in 2009. He had been Director of Milton Keynes Gallery (2004 – 2009) where he was responsible for two Turner Prize nominated exhibitions; Yeah…..you, baby you! by Phil Collins in 2006 and Cathy Wilkes in 2008, as well as a range of first UK solo exhibitions including Roger Hiorns and Phillip Allen and by international artists including Pae White, Carlos Amorales, Carlos Bunga and Adrian Paci. At MOA he curated the widely acclaimed survey exhibition of work by Marcel Broodthaers and an exhibition of work by the late James Lee Byars for the Venice Biennale 2009 and introduced new strands of programming including offsite projects by Johanna Billing, Wolfgang Weileder and Langlands & Bell. He was also a trustee of the Contemporary Art Society in 2010 and was on the selecting committee for its Annual Award commission, funded by the Sfumato Foundation, in 2011.
Previously he was Senior Curator at Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (2002-2004) and curated the Turner Prize nominated exhibition by Anya Gallaccio as well as the critically acclaimed exhibition by George Shaw; What I Did this Summer. He worked with international venues and artists creating collaborations, including SMAK, K29, St. Gallen, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneve, MUDAM, Luxembourg and Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama. Stanley had also worked as Curator of Art at Compton Verney, Warwickshire (2000-2002) where he took the lead curatorial role in developing a series of major projects including Aleksandra Mir and the capital development of the gallery which opened in 2004. He also founded an independent commissioning organisation called Epilogue (1997–2001) where he curated non-gallery exhibitions such as Tabley (2000).