Stephen Birch was an Australian born artist best known for his strange and darkly funny sculptural installations that depicted figures from popular culture as diverse as the members of rock band KISS, to Osama Bin Laden.  Seeing these familiar faces portrayed through Birch’s warped perspective, often accompanied by seemingly unrelated, or impossible objects delights museum visitors and critics alike. 

And so the quirky artist had lots of success early on in life.  Remaining humble though, one of Birch’s favorite stories to tell was of a critic who saw his painting of an angel in a prestigious exhibition and exclaimed it to be one of the “worst things he’s ever seen!”

It was no doubt his obsessive, almost reclusive nature that allowed Birch notoriety at a young age and this is lucky.  Birch died of cancer in 2007 when he was only 46.