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Writer's pictureMonica Blignaut

Joseph Klibansky


Artist 258

Joseph Klibansky

The co-existence of utopia and dystopia

Painting and Sculpture


Joseph Klibansky (born 1984) is a South African artist who explores phenomenology and perception through his paintings and sculptures. He currently lives and works in Amsterdam.



He is known for his large mixed media paintings of surreal cityscapes. His work often depicts a space in which utopia and dystopia coexist, painting scenes of violence and terror in soft, pastel colors.



What interests him is the correlation between appearance and that which appears, and the way in which this correlation allows us to understand the relationship between the self and the world.



His work examines the relationship between a thing and its essence, between what we see and what an image implies.

The sense of precarious equilibrium that can be found in his recent paintings and in his sculptures reveals just how sadly dystopian an image can be that, at first glance, appears happily utopian. It thus reveals how utopia and dystopia can coexist within the same image.



Also interested in the changing nature of the modern world, Klibansky’s work addresses themes related to communication. “Symbols are like icons on a smartphone,” the artist has said. “It’s a quick way to communicate and they are connected to the time we live in, where everything has to be faster and more condensed than in the past.”





Sources Consulted


https://josephklibansky.com/biography

http://www.artnet.com/artists/joseph-klibansky/

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