The Miaz Brothers present a radical new take on portraiture. The Italian duo, who are indeed siblings, create large-format canvases using spray paint as it never has been before.
The Antimatter Series, as their body of work is known, incorporates a diverse and refreshing range of subjects. It includes portraits of their friends, their dear departed ("Ghosts"), philosophers, fashionable female Japanese adolescents ("Kawaii"), and figures from the era of the English Restoration ("Masters").
While they employ aerosol paints, the Miaz Brothers have never been street artists nor are they ever likely to start. "We use it to represent the fact that we are composed of infinite particles in continuous evolution," they say, "which change in tandem with the complex reality that surrounds us." The spray paint produces the blurred effect that defines the duo's work: "dematerialising the lines, we gain a substantial indetermination of the picture. This skips any immediate reaction and provokes the viewer to use mnemonic associations instead for their own personal visual information encoding."
While possessing multi-disciplinary skills, the brothers are inclined towards portrait painting as it in itself "prompts questions about the transitory nature of existence." Ultimately though, the Antimatter Series is a stunning selection of artworks.
"We look to provide a visual experience," say the Miaz pair, "that activates our awareness, that compels the viewer to recognise and re-establish the limits of his or her own perception, to regain control of the real. The paintings invite us to always be able to take a considerable distance, to see the whole picture."
