Seoul, b. 1992

Artist MAWZ has been drawn to Disney animation films and cartoons since childhood. While studying Fine Arts at Chung-ang University, the artist created a character to represent himself and painted the world through its eyes. The artist’s artistic stage name, MAWZ, is named after the character from his early work. His birth dream of sharks and the movie <JAWS> inspired its naming. The artist's work explores surrealism and symbolism, conveying messages of reality's absurdity, personal concerns, social situations, and aspirations. His work conveys social, cultural, and personal concerns through the use of symbolic imagery, featuring poetic symbolism and animated expressions. The symbols used include envelopes, ribbons, and eagles, and their meanings can be interpreted in different ways based on the viewer's perspective. His recent work revolves around exploring the absurdity of reality and social issues. He continuously experiments with new materials and conducts thorough research on the subject's background or history to add more depth to his work. The artist’s defining characteristic is his use of Matière, which is conveyed through simple and implicit expressions with cheerful colors and thick brushstrokes of paint. Before starting any artwork, the artist meticulously documents the content or stories he intends to convey. He draws inspiration and motivation from his imagination, surroundings, and personal experiences to depict his unique perspective in his work. His recent work emphasizes background and three-dimensional elements over characters and icons from his earlier pieces, adding depth and highlighting the message. His animated style and expressions capture deep concerns across diverse subjects and allow for varied interpretations among viewers. The artist is experimenting with various mediums to refine and develop his style and expressed a desire to expand into creating more three-dimensional work, in addition to his current focus on two-dimensional paintings. The artist previously collaborated with various brands, including McDonald's, Volkswagen, Cass, and SM Entertainment, to communicate with the public. MAWZ uses the process of creating art as a means to illustrate his personal exploration of the future unknown. He seeks to share his journey with the audience to spread positive energy and convey optimistic promises of life.