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The work of Maria Rivans is known for its mash up of surrealism meets pop art. Her scrapbook like collages with their 1950s pop culture references have all the playful delight of an early Paolozzi, mixed with the strange surreality of a Dali, and brought up to date with a certain sophistication and quirky aesthetic, unique to Rivans. The reference series was first released at the artrepublic Art Yard Sale on Sunday 5th June 2016, in which some of the biggest names in the contemporary art world came together in Brighton’s Jubilee Square, giving fans the chance to buy from the artists directly. ‘The Reference Series 1’ mixes a range of images and aesthetics a 1950s burger bar sign hovers in the background the pop art hallmark of consumerism while a team of smiling, uniformed air hostesses dominate, surrounded by oversized flora and fauna, exotic beasts leopards and lions and other curiosities a red telephone and a drum. The whole collage is laid onto divergent diagonal lines, refusing a sense of a centre in a way which is harmoniously haphazard. The end result is at once beautiful, thoughtful and compelling.
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