Their latest work is the result of a deliberately set break that followed the question of how to find back to that magic energy that has driven the duo for so many years. They wanted to deviate from worn-out approaches and develop new creative solutions. They wanted to escape the repetitious “Have you already …?” and “Yeah, sure.” They wanted to get back to “Hey! Wow! Very good!” The escape plan was to re-enter the artistic and non-verbal dialogue. For that, they hid in a studio for three days. Julio started the process by using sketches from another project and developed an air brush technique for paper. Sebastian continued in copying the forms and shapes into wood cut that he printed upon Julio’s paintings. As the final step they finished each piece with another layer of air brush. The results were strong and convincing and so the shared fun was rebuilt and the intense cooperation continues.

Despite of the creative dialogue between the two, these new works show another dialogical structure. One cannot dismiss a strong reference to artistic precursors; classic modernists like Picasso’s figures, Matisse’s forms and colors, Paul Klee’s graphical image build-up, the surrealistic spatiality of Georgio de Chirico’s Pittura metafisica or the geometrical physicality of Oskar Schlemmer’s costumes that he had designed for his Triadic ballet. However, 44Flavours are contemporary artists and therefore such inter-pictorial aspects should be read as a wink to art history. Both of them are aware of the tradition but do not consider it as a guiding star of their own artistic practice. Contemporary inspiration is more significant to them, such as the pixacao taggings that Julio discovered on a trip to Brazil. These taggings are almost illegible and they cover whole buildings in Brazil’s big cities. They should be read as subversive and political statements of marginalized groups and 44Flavours cited them in their air brush paintings.

Julio and Sebastian are living the dialogue. Not just the dialogue between each other but in commune with all the signs and forms of the visual culture that surrounds them and therefore shapes them. Their work is an example of how to incorporate historic references with a playful touch while integrating actual and global visual phenomena respectfully. - Jana Duda.