Stamatis Laskos’s Warped Portraits and Murals

Montreal-based artist Jason Botkin recently returned from Cancun, Mexico, where he created a series of murals and installations for the second annual Festival Internacional de Arte Publico, a week of art making that took place at the end of February. In collaboration with Jeremy Shantz, Botkin created a series of humorous, mask-like pieces with movable features that viewers could reconfigure a la Mr. Potato Head. Public engagement and collaboration are at the heart of Botkin's whimsical work. He is a co-founder of the collective En Masse, which invites its members to co-create sprawling monochromatic murals. Though Botkin's painting style has an instantly recognizable palette and texture, he has no problem adapting his aesthetic to work with that of other artists. Today we take a look at his pieces from FIAP as well as some other recent work.