Bio / Propaganda
Mike Makatron is a Melbourne based Artist who works across a variety of media, working with all types of paint – aerosol, acrylic, oils, and also has a passion for illustration. A prominent street artist and member of the Everfresh Studio, he is equally at home in canvas painting and illustration.
Originally travelling to New York to study Fine Art on an full scholarship at the age of 20, Mike has spent much of his adult life travelling, completing six round the world trips, bike messengering in 9 cities and picking up all types or work, and painting anywhere he could.
Makatron’s street art enlivens many inner-city walls throughout New York, Berlin, Brazil and Melbourne. He has also left his mark in Los Angeles, Glasgow, Mexico, Sydney, Barcelona, Toronto, Indonesia, Paris, Copenhagen and many more. In 2007 he travelled to India to paint along the River Ganges and 2009 saw him travel to Brazil, to take part in the Usina Urbana Hiphop festival. Bringing home a bag full of inspiration, he accomplished his first solo show later in the year “Makanikal Gardens” at Hogan Gallery. His most recent solo show was October 2011 at No Vacancy Gallery Federation Square.
The themes and inspirations of Makatron’s work are as eclectic as the media he employs, but they tend to reflect a few signature dichotomies. The name “Makatron” itself is a paradox, combining a prefix meaning “from” (carrying connotations of place, history, tradition, and regeneration) with a suffix that suggests the machine-like, the virtual, the promise and threat of technology.
Makatron’s work, too, often pulls in opposite directions. His street art is by its nature rooted in a particular place, inscribing itself palimpsest-like as an element in a site’s history, yet it also reflects the artist’s own nomadic existence, consciously participating in a global culture with a significant extension in the virtual realm. Similarly, his work is preoccupied with the interface between humans, beasts, nature and machines, reminding us that in a digital age, human nature itself is becoming ever more machine-like.
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Artist CV
Solo Shows:
‘ Mother of Millions’ – No Vacancy Federation Square -Melbourne- Oct 2011 -
‘Makanikal Gardens’ - Hogan Gallery Smith st Collingwood – Jan 2010 -
Group Shows:
2011 – Board – National Gallery of Victoria – Federation Sq. Studio – December til January 2012
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Editorial / Propaganda
This section is a random selection of editorial features / interviews/ artshow flyers etc.
National Gallery of Australia
Space Invaders Exhibition
http://ngashop.com.au/exhibition/SpaceInvaders/Default.cfm?IRN=201820&BioArtistIRN=36847&mystartrow=25&realstartrow=25&MnuID=3&GalID=1&ViewID=2