Nicholas Mau artist statement

When I was five, I was deeply fascinated by ephemera. Shopping bags had patterns and boxes had instructions. Comics with action heroes, catalogues had many typefaces and old magazines from the 1950s had colourful pages with happy faces that suggested a utopian world not familiar to me. My work today expresses many additional influences, mostly satirical, with large-scale imagery and a bold colour palette. Posters have always been at the intersection of art and design and I use them as my vehicle for disruption. Serigraphic printing is an exacting and precise medium. It’s the incremental stage of the work that intrigues me. The finished work is what excites me. The ephemera is what inspires me.