Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine

The Multilayered Narratives of Michal Mráz

Michal Mráz, a painter from Bratislava, Slovakia, uses a combination of stencil work and traditional oil and acrylics to create his work. In the artist’s pieces, multi-layered narratives and images can be experienced both holistically and in disparate sections. The artist says he's inspired by “nature, urban lifestyle, graffiti, and pop culture,” and with each piece, there’s both a sense of destruction and reconstruction of conventions.


Michal Mráz, a painter from Bratislava, Slovakia, uses a combination of stencil work and traditional oil and acrylics to create his work. In the artist’s pieces, multi-layered narratives and images can be experienced both holistically and in disparate sections. The artist says he’s inspired by “nature, urban lifestyle, graffiti, and pop culture,” and with each piece, there’s both a sense of destruction and reconstruction of conventions.





These narratives often reflect the contemporary experience, mixing moments of wistfulness, nostalgia, and occasionally, something bleaker. Writer Katarina Slaninova described the artist as “a visual DJ remixing various motives and genres, and shifting original stories into new, often surprising contexts with endless possibilities of reading.” Some of that work includes iconography, like an American flag, which denotes more geographically specific commentary.



The artist currently has a show at Galerie ALB in Paris, titled “Decadence,” which runs through Oct. 25 at the space. In 2012, In 2012, Mráz was nominated for the Paris-based Artaq Urban Art Award. The artist often includes behind-the-scenes looks and works-in-progress on his Instagram page.

Meta
Share
Facebook
Reddit
Pinterest
Email
Related Articles
Alongside Jeff Soto's "Nightgardens" (covered here), Sashie Masakatsu made his debut solo exhibition at KP Projects/MKG in Los Angeles last weekend with "Blind Box." We featured Masakatsu's disaster striken world in HF Vol. 28, where there is no sign of life except for his strange, hovering orbs. As his title suggests, whatever propels them remains a mystery, but their exteriors have evolved to incorporate newly decorative motifs.
Boston-born, London-based painter Phil Hale crafts distressed, dynamic works in which figures are conveyed in action and anguish. His nighttime backdrops are particularly absorbing, with shadows both enveloping and dramatizing the scenes. Hale’s work is decidedly confrontational and relational, in contrast with figurative painting that focuses on quiet, somber moments. In fact, several of Hale’s paintings seem to be convergences of multiple scenes. Hale was last mentioned on HiFructose.com here.
There’s a wild energy to Jon Fox’s work, present even when subjects stand still and stare at the viewer. With Fox’s oil paintings, specifically, the works burst and crack in defiance against the medium. And in each corner, a symphony of apparitions, with Japanese, geometric, and otherworldly influences, offers a new entry point.
Iran-born, Brussels-based artist Sanam Khatibi crafts oil and pencil works that continue a Renaissance-era visual dialogue, yet exploring gender dynamics and dominance through her singular voice. Her figures are described as “ambiguous with their relationship to power, violence, sensuality and each other.”

Subscribe to the Hi-Fructose Mailing List