El Mac can be considered a street artist as he chooses to create most of his work in public spaces such as on walls and buildings. Born in Los Angeles in 1980 , Mac was inspired at a young age by classic European painters such as Caravaggio, and Vermeer and Art Nouveau symbolists such as Klimt and Mucha. This was mixed with the more contemporary influences of graffiti and photorealism, as well as as the Chicano & Mexican culture he grew up around. Mac says of himself that he creates art to uplift and inspire people through his renderings of the sublime and the humble. Much of Mac's art has reference to religion or uses styles and symbolism based on religious art.
In June 2013 El Mac painted a mural of entitled 'Our lady of Aalborg' in Aalborg, Denmark The painting is a depiction of the virgin Mary in a photo-realistic style.. The mural is painted in spray paint and acrylic and is rendered in Mac's unique style using repeated contour lines to give a vibrating effect.The painting is three storeys high and painted on the side of a building, opposite a maternity hospital. El Mac says that he was inspired to paint the iconic symbol of motherly love by the location of the piece. I like the fact that the piece uses a traditional religious image and transforms it by using modern techniques such as photo realism and spray painting. I think that this, along with the public location opens up the meaning to a wider audience who may not otherwise be interested in viewing religious art. The size of the piece is also makes it striking and unusual.
While in Aalborg, Mac also painted a triptych entitled 'purity of the heart.' The title of this triptych comes from the popular book by Søren Kierkegaard, Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing.
"A Providence watches over each man’s wandering through life. It provides him with two guides. The one calls him forward. The other calls him back. They are, however, not in opposition to each other, these two guides, nor do they leave the wanderer standing there in doubt, confused by the double call. Rather the two are in eternal understanding with each other. For the one beckons forward to the Good, the other calls man back from evil. Nor are they blind guides. Just for that reason there are two of them. For in order to make the journey secure, they must look both forward and backward."
The spiritual aspect of the painting is suggested through the position of the figures who look to be praying with their heads looking up to heaven and their hands crossed over their breast. The highlight of red across the heart is also reminiscent of the sacred heart. The portraits that Mac paints are taken from portraits of real people. Mac says that he likes the idea of normal people, who aren't famous being immortalized in his giants murals.
In 2009 El Mac teamed up with fellow street artist Retna to create a 44ft high mural of the virgin Mary in salt lake city, Utah. Mac painted the portrait which is a very recognisable image of Our Lady complete with the sacred heart but done again in a photo realistic way using spray paint and acrylic. The script and halo behind is painted by Retna and is written in Latin but in the style more associated with street art and tagging. The text is the start of the prayer, 'Ave Maria'. I think the mix of traditional religious imagery, including the Latin text with their modern style creates a truly interesting an original result.
Much like the other artists I have researched such as KTZ and Damien Hirst, El Mac gains inspiration from traditional religious imagery and transforms and modernises it by using new techniques and materials. I think that this along with the location and size of his pieces make his work appealing to a wide range of people from young to old. Much like Damien Hirst, I think that Mac uses clear and recognisable imagery that would be understood and appeal to a wide range of people. Unlike Damien Hirst, Mac's work is not intended to create controversy but just to uplift and inspire people.
I like this idea of modernising religious images and making them appealing to a new, wider range of people and plan to use this idea to influence my own work.
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