Sean Mackaoui

Sean Mackaoui (Loussanne, 1969), a legitimate heir to Schwitters, Duchamp, Man Ray, and Joan Brossa, combines seemingly incongruous elements in his collages and objects to generate new meanings, seeking surprise, humor, and poetry in magazine and newspaper clippings, or found words. More than combinations of elements and juxtapositions of iconography, his collages and objects give rise to new entities and realities, exposing new and surprising messages about society and the current political situation. Mackaoui plays with the deceptive nature of appearances, generating an atmosphere of surprise, juxtaposing idyllic and seemingly innocent images with disturbing ones, reflecting on the relationships between states and their power. His collages have been published in national and international magazines and newspapers. He has also featured on book covers for Santillana, Espasa Calpe, Lengua de Trapo, Anaya, and Temas de Hoy. Illustrations in the books "Crimes Ejemplares" by Max Aub and "My First 80,000 Thousand Words" published by Media Vaca. He has created images for various brands, festivals, fairs, and posters, including those created in collaboration with Isidro Ferrer for the Centro Dramático Nacional. He has participated in numerous collective and solo exhibitions nationally and internationally. His solo exhibitions include "Zoco" in 2008 at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid, where he also held his first solo exhibition, "Mundo Imagen" in 1995. His publications include "La Garra de la Guerra" (The Claw of War) by Media Vaca, which won first prize for Best Edited Book in the Children's and Young Adult Books category, awarded by the Ministry of Culture in 2003. He is Honorary Director of The Collage Centre of San Francisco, USA.