Michael Druks

Druks' diverse practice over the past four decades reflects his thoughts about techniques and different forms of media. He sees technique as “merely a working tool”: when asked about his artistic use of many different forms of media in 1978, he replied that “the medium is the artist himself, and all the rest, such as video and drawing, are techniques.” Since the early 1980s, Druks has concentrated primarily on painting, making works he says are “details detached from a context” that require time and active participation from the viewer. Described by Arturo Schwarz as "mindscapes", these enigmatic paintings are intended to entice an investment of time and imagination in the process of contemplating and decoding them – Druks sees this time element as incorporating “an extra dimension to a two-dimensional product”, saying that “my elusive images create the space for playfulness and involve the viewer’s participation in an active and democratic role”. He creates fictions, making images that emerge from his subconscious, although “the trigger for the picture is not the subject for the work”.