Makatron is an emerging Melbourne artist who works across a variety of media being equally at home in canvas painting and illustration. He works with all types of paint - aerosol, acrylic, oils, and also has a passion for illustration. Originally travelling to New York to study Fine Art on an full scholarship at the age of 20, Makatron has spent much of his adult life travelling, completing six round the world trips, bike couriering in 9 cities and painting anywhere he could. Makatron's street art enlivens many inner-city walls throughout New York, Berlin and Melbourne. He has also left his mark in Los Angeles, Glasgow, Mexico, Sydney, Barcelona, Toronto, Indonesia, Paris, Copenhagen and many more. In 2007 he travelled to India to paint along the River Ganges and 2009 saw him travel to Brazil, to exhibit and take part in the Usina Urbana hip hop festival. Bringing home a bag full of inspiration, he accomplished a sellout solo show "Makanikal Gardens" at Hogan Gallery. The themes and inspirations of Makatron's work are as eclectic as the media he employs, but they tend to reflect a few signature dichotomies. The name "Makatron" itself is a paradox, combining a prefix meaning "from" (carrying connotations of place, history, tradition, and regeneration) with a suffix that suggests the machine-like, the virtual, the promise and threat of technology. Makatron's work, too often pulls in opposite directions. His street art is by its nature rooted in a particular place, inscribing itself palimpsest-like as an element in a site's history, yet it also reflects the artist's own nomadic existence, consciously participating in a global culture with a significant extension in the virtual realm. Similarly, his work is preoccupied with the interface between man, beast and machine. Presenting a visual riot that stimulates the mind, Makatron's art conveys a imperative message for many confined in the concrete jungle to stay connected with the natural world.
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