Magnus Mudrack is an image-maker, born and based in Dublin, Ireland. His work, which Magnus describes as “the love child of Paul Rand and Karel Martens”, currently celebrates the lives and antics of our pawed pals.
His interest in visual culture was sparked when he fell in love with the world of graffiti art aged 10. Over the following decade, graffiti filled every nook and cranny of Magnus’ life and became his unofficial apprenticeship into visual culture. “Graffiti was not a safe space, each and every mistake you made was mercilessly ridiculed. I’m still reminded of silly things I did or said decades later. But graffiti gave us the freedom to do whatever we wanted, I just needed to be willing to take a slagging if it didn’t work out. Which was most of the time. This gave me a tough skin, one I am grateful for.”
Since then, Magnus has worked as a sign and mural painter under the mentorship of Maser and ESPO. He also studied Visual Communication Design at IADT (Dun Laoghaire Institute Of Art Design + Technology) and worked as a Graphic and Interaction Designer in Ireland and Germany for a mix of cultural and corporate clients.
Over the past year, Magnus has been developing an illustration exercise into his primary practice. This process began as a challenge; could he fill or finish one sketchbook depicting just one type of animal?. He spent an hour every weekday filling a sketchbook with one particular animal, and then posted this double-page spread on social media. Beginning with a book of birds, then fish, squirrels, and cats. However, It was when he got to the sketchbook depicting dogs that his followers responded particularly favourably. “People began asking me to draw portraits of their pooch’s. This was a nice development as they told me about their doggo’s antics. No longer was it just an exploration of shape, space and colour, but an exploration of character,” says the artist.
As he had spent over two decades involved with graffiti, it seemed only natural for Magnus to put these portraits up as posters around the streets of Dublin. He comments; “I was curious how people would respond and was pleasantly surprised to find out that people have been hunting the portraits down. Collecting pictures to share, as well as trade, with their friends, family and followers. It was like a game, kind of like Pokémon GO.”
Magnus was first introduced to printmaking whilst at college. He then took a year out, and set up a “mad max style” print studio in his kitchen, or as his friends called it the “MAD MAG Studio”. The studio consisted of builders’ lights dangling from a plank of wood precariously perched between cabinets, a sheet of old glass, and a screen beneath. “It was rudimentary, it was grim, it took a lot of trial and error to get what you wanted. But it allowed us to do small runs and learn quickly. This was great for folk fiscally poor but time rich,” describes the printmaker. Today, Magnus has moved on from his home DIY set-up, and is now a member of Damn Fine Print studio.
Currently, he is spending his time between Dublin and Berlin, looking to expand his project further by collaborating with others. Want to have your pawed pal (cat, dog, man mauling bear, etc) captured for posterity? check out @magnus_mudrack.
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