A versatile thing, the leftover cardboard tube from an empty bog roll. A parent’s go-to object. Use them as legs for a home-made robot, as a makeshift megaphone, or a pretend telescope – hours of fun. What, you may ask, has this got to do with a collection of paintings and prints from a mononymous German artist? Well not much in truth, apart from the poor chap in MAST’s top picture looks like he’s been busted by the wife while using his kid’s telescope to check out his hot neighbour getting undressed. Not too much fun for him I’ll wager.
Enough childishness, there is some serious talent to Max Strasser, who goes by the more brand-friendly moniker MAST. His latest collection and first major exhibition, Identity in Transit, also deals with some adult themes, among them Victorian crime. The villains certainly didn’t play about in those days. He used mugshots of nicked rogues from the period as the starting point for his re-interpretations, examining how we view and interact with faces. This abstracted rogue’s gallery is lining up against the wall at Shoreditch’s The Book Club from 21st February to 5th May.
