MARKUS MUNTEAN AND ADI ROSENBLUM

Markus Muntean, Born in Graz, Austria, 1962
Adi Rosenblum, Born, Haifa, Israel, 1962
They live and work in London and Vienna. They have been working in partnership since 1992 and have developed a unique joint signature style.

'This double authorship has the same function as the white frame or margins, which puts the painting into brackets. These white frames or margins of course have connotations in terms of comics or TV monitors. They allow us to deal with very painterly issues and iconographies, and questions of authorship'. 

'We are fascinated by, and investigate, how far you can go with the construction of the gesture of the figure. Because, we think the more artificial it gets, the more moving it is, even though, in the normal sense it is the natural that is the thing that moves you'. The archetypal static poses of these contrived figures are familiar from both contemporary popular culture and art history. Reminiscent of characters from Renaissance paintings undergoing a sublime religious experience, they reflect Christian iconography, much of which refers back to classical art.' Adi Rosenblum

"Muntean/Rosenblum's work appropriates adolescent figures from fashion or lifestyle magazines, transforming them into strangely compelling scenes which question the possibility of spirituality in contemporary society." Read the rest of the article here: http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/artnow/munteanrosenblum/default.shtm