Sebastian Maas

Collage-like, Sebastian Maas takes concrete motifs, ornaments and formal specifics out of the canonical masterpieces of different epochs as well as from the contemporary consumer and commodity world, combines them with each other and uses them like mosaic pieces within his own composition, thus constituting a new meaning and visual impression.

 

Contrast, as a distinct and powerful phenomenon of esthetic intuition, is a decisive moment in the new works of Sebastian Maas. In addition to formal aspects, Maas is above all concerned with an esthetically oriented act of self-reassurance, expressed in the intensity of inner contrasts that can be directly experienced. Significant for the artist in this context is the constant compulsion requiring us to always align our inside world very strongly to new impulses. At a highly emotional time like this, extreme contrasts emerge. […] It is exactly these contrasts, and their high intensity, that interest me, and I consider them worthy of depiction (Sebastian Maas, 2020).

 

His complex works invite the viewer to take part in the highly intellectual play, in the search for analogies and references, to interpreting artists, works, colors and styles in inter-relation to each other and thus to sharpen their own eye for the originals.