St. Michael by Gregory Dalton (Original Painting)

St. Michael reimagines the traditional image of the archangel’s victory over Lucifer as a quiet, dreamlike encounter. Michael appears suspended in luminous mist, his immense wings surrounding a figure clad in invented armor of leather, iron, and deep red. Rather than depicting Lucifer as a monster, he retains his angelic form and gazes calmly toward the viewer, suggesting a more ambiguous relationship between the two figures—beings who once belonged to the same celestial order.

The painting combines sacred imagery with the visual language of Symbolism, Surrealism, and the fantastic. Historical references coexist with contemporary elements, leaving the scene outside any identifiable period. Layered and linear passages of armor contrast with atmospheric clouds and floating feathers, allowing highly constructed forms to emerge from and dissolve back into the painted surface.

The work is concerned less with the violence of the battle than with its aftermath: separation, transformation, and the strange stillness between the victorious and the fallen.