Theo Michael: Dystopian Landscapes

Theo Michael (Panorama, Greece, 1978) draws different geographies from literally nothing. From “poor” materials or elements, such as earth, cardboard, polyurethane foam, etc., or those associated with construction work, he built landscapes that seem typical of science fiction. Although his artistic work is mainly known for his graphite drawings, Michael builds from materiality in either two-dimensional or three-dimensional supports

Michael has called his pieces a kind of “poor art”, an idea that recalls the notion of “poor images” that the artist and researcher Hito Steyerl has coined to refer to all those visual materials that within the dominant economy and cultures they lack symbolic or economic capital due to their unidentified origin, their massive reproduction and their very low quality, and yet they can and are used not only in the production of a collective visual imaginary, but also as part of artistic and aesthetic processes.

Myrmexx (Fables And Counter Fables), 2021 175 x 125cm Cardboard, epoxy, grout

This idea could be also applied to Michael’s work: he takes advantage of all kinds of physical and visual material that could go unnoticed or be considered of little value, he respects their qualities and characteristics in such a way that it is the material itself that exposes its own material identity, and creates both social and natural scenarios in which there is no specific order or rationality.

In his pieces could be seen plants, marine animals, almost-futuristic-machines, Roman sculptures that look like zombies, weird creatures, or stickers with the shields of Mexican soccer teams, advertising clippings of iconic brands, images of the popular culture of Mexico , or prints from children’s albums. “These works,” in the artist’s words, “seem absurd to people embedded in modern systems of competition, but should seem like zen gardens to anyone horrified by orthodoxy.”

Michael works with drawing, sculpture, collage, which let him show both the versatility of supports and their possibilities, as well as the importance of materiality in contemporary art to create aesthetic objects and images.

Theo Michael lives and works in Mexico City. He studied Fine Arts at Aristottle University and at the Utrecht School of the Arts, and received a MA from the Wimbledon College of Art. His work has been part of solo and collective exhibitions in Mexico, France, the United States, Greece, Spain, Germany, England and Italy.