Living in an era when every aspect of human experience is increasingly shaped by technology puts a significant weight on the eternal question: What does it mean to be human? With technology arguably improving our lives and conditioning how we experience and react to the world, it feels as if our downsides and emotions remain the sole markers of our humanity.

The flaws, scars, traumas, and emotions defined by our position within our nuclear families and the society at large are distinguishing qualities that set us apart. Considering all this, Filip Mirazović (1977, Serbia) took a focused, self-reflective approach to the new series of statue and busts-dominated paintings comprising his Seoul solo debut with Lazy Mike. Continuing his path of highly revealing, autobiographical body of work, Black Marble, Gold Veins introduces symbolism-infused painterly exploration of self-portraits and psychological states.

"This is not the world we live in. It’s something new." — AKIRA

“For me, the act of painting is the place of truth,” Mirazović mentioned during a conversation about his most recent body of work... With this latest series of works, the artist conceived classical images filled with symbolism, ornaments, and decorations referencing personal life, family relationships, fatherhood, medical conditions, mental state, etc. Taking the luxurious gilded finish and the cracked, aged appearance of Baroque or Rococo sculptures, Mirazović is painterly sculpting symbolic effigies representing himself and important people from his life. Employing precious materials that suggest class, dignity, or greatness, such as black marble, porcelain (painted with cobalt blue), or basswood, he conjured various subversive methods to slip through an element of a personal story into an otherwise ambiguously general image.

- Saša Bogojev