Michael Esson was born in Scotland in 1950 and studied at Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen, Edinburgh College of Art and the Royal College of Art, London.

He is a practising artist living in Sydney, and the Director of the International Drawing Research Institute, the College of Fine Arts, the University of New South Wales. He is a Professor of Drawing at the University of Lincoln, UK, and a Visiting Professor at the Xi’an Academy of Fine Art, Xian, Lu Xun Academy of Fine Art, Shenyang, and Dong Hua University, Shanghai, China.

Although working in a broad range of disciplines within the visual arts, the core of his art practise has been the study, interpretation and expression of the human figure through the drawing process.

In 1993 – 94 he was the first artist in residence at the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, where he focused upon a long-standing concern with the exploration of the body; its’ structure, anatomy and ideas of mortality and identity.

His research continues into the interplay of art and medical science in developing new courses for plastic surgeons.