VIRUT It’s our pleasure to welcome you to the 2022 Exhibition for world-renowned artist, VIRUT. Born in 1980, VIRUT is known for his expressive pop-art portraits made entirely by assembling in a collage technique. As an artist overflowing with creativity, VIRUT ditches the traditional oil brush for piles of colourful magazine cuttings. This successful formula sees tiny scraps of colourful paper, meticulously layered one next to the other to produce eye-popping portraits. His larger than life collages are complex and vivid, from a distance the portraits are almost hyperrealistic, viewed closely the original image softly dissolves into the layers of paper. VIRUT celebrates the character and emotions of his subjects regardless of their gender, age and ethnicity. Rather than looking for faces that are beautiful or famous, VIRUT searches for a face full of emotion. “My sole goal is to immortalise the energy & beauty of the people I create. I draw a lot of inspiration from people I see in my everyday life” The final product of VIRUT’s tedious practice is nothing short of Artistic wonder. The original image disappears, but the energy & feeling of the model remains. VIRUT’s massive collages are a hit amongst art collectors, his works are in prestigious collections such as that of Italian fashion giant Luciano Benetton or Chinese model Liu Dan. His works hang on walls of private
homes around the world. Having his art in all those places, admired by so many people, grants VIRUT his main wish as an artist – immortality. “When I die, my art will not die with me. This will be a success for me.” After a sellout show in 2019, 2020 and 2021, VIRUT has spent the last year creating this body of work for this New Zealand show, we hope you enjoy it! Artbay Galleries are delighted to represent VIRUT’s Artwork exclusively for the Australasian Region.
Beauty Queen 120 x 170 cm $22,000
African 155 x 120cm $22,000
Chuu 120 x 180cm $22,000
Chinese Bride No. 2 140 x 200cm $27,000
Red Hair Scream 170 x 140cm $25,000
Freckle Girl 180 x 140cm $25,000
Gold Lady 140 x 200cm $27,000
Sexy Lady 140 x 160cm $25,000
Vintage Girl with Gum 120 x 170cm $22,000
Old Smile 150 x 150cm $22,000
Mahana 140 x 180cm $25,000
Pink Lollipop 180 x 150cm $25,000
Pink Glasses 120 x 170cm $22,000
The Explosion 130 x 170cm $22,000
The Astronaut 140 x 180cm $25,000
Climax No. 2 150 x 180cm $25,000
Gun Girl 120 x 180cm $22,000
Old Man with Cigarette 150 x 200cm $27,000
info@artbay.co.nz | www.artbay.co.nz | 03 442 9090 Eichardts Building, 9 - 11 Lvl 1 Marine Parade, Queenstown