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.
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Joshua Hagler's new, massive oil paintings are packed with tension and political reflections, each appearing as memories emerging and dissipating. "Chimera” is his upcoming show at Unit London, named for the mythological creature or in a more contemporary sense, has “come to mean something which is hoped for, but is impossible to achieve.” The show begins on July 19 and runs through the end of August.
The oil paintings of