The exhibition MASQUERADE at the AM CUBICLE-contemporary artspace shows the unusually bizarre works of the American art illustrator Matt Cipov. His drawings, conspicuously small in size, captivate with their refreshing diversity of motifs – full of monsters, costumed creatures and grotesque shapes. Using a clever selection of expressive original works Matt Cipov allows us an ironic and extremely entertaining insight into the complex diversity of human and animal nature. – A sobering, but at the same time highly amusing reflection of everyday madness.

Are you afraid of monsters? – Matt Cipov is not!

Bizarre masquerades, utopian human as well as animalistic individuals, macabre creatures, witchcraft and sorcery are the topics that Matt Cipov has subscribed to and which dominate his entire artistic creation. His source of inspiration is everyday lunacy: people sitting opposite you in the tube, randomly witnessed conversations, pictures and headlines in newspapers, music as well as nature or abstruse dreams. Everything seen and experienced is interpreted and abstracted and the result is a complex pictorial study about everything that is real even though it does not seem obvious.

Matt Cipov’s work delights through a random combination of different techniques and approaches. His illustrations present an artistically interesting hybrid – juggling between collage and drawing – starting with stamping, the incorporation of typographic elements up to a challenging construction of several picture planes. An interesting mix between surreal drawing constructions paired with naturalistic elements gives Matt Cipov’s little drawings the certain je-ne-sais-quoi.

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the artist and graphic designer Matt Cipov gained his diploma at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design in 1999 and subsequently worked as graphic designer and freelance artist. After becoming self-employed in 2005 his prestige and reputation as an artist are on a continuous rise. He has already been part of group- as well as single exhibitions in the United States, Canada and Germany and now, for the very first time, presents a comprehensive show with more than 80 original drawings in Austria.

Opening Thu. 14.1.2010, 18h
MASQUERADE opens at ADVANCED MINORITY CUBICLE – Contemporary Artspace . Westbahnstrasse 22 . 1070 Wien

from 14th January 2010 till 12th February 2010
Opening Times: Monday till Saturday from 13-18 hrs

Web: www.advancedminority.com
Contact: teresa.klicpera@advancedminority.com