Nana Mandl (b. 1991 in Graz, Austria) studied at the Kunsthochschule Berlin Weissensee and received her diploma in fine arts at the University of Applied Arts, Vienna. Nana Mandl is also a founding member and current contributor to the internationally active artist collective CLUB FORTUNA and winner of the 2024 Strabag Art Award.

 

In her colourful material collages, pictures, prints and sculptures, Nana Mandl develops possible visual implementations of today's media challenges and excessive demands. Her haptic collages combine elements of painting, embroidery and drawing with forms of communicative-representative spheres of advertising, fashion, pop culture and social media.

„People looking at their phones or posing in front of mirrors for selfies. A series by Nana Mandl, whose photos of these scenes were also taken with phones: They are pictures of the typical images that accumulate in the photo archives of our smartphones. And they are images that say as much about self-perception and reality creation as they do about the time and environment of their creation. However, while the depicted protagonists look at the smooth, reflective display of their phones, we see them in Mandl's works portrayed in patchworks of textiles, embroidery, and overpainting. Instead of flawless smoothness, the surfaces show visible seams and gestural brushstrokes. Gently shimmering areas and rougher, almost light-absorbing weaving patterns intermingle or overlap. The colors are cheerful, powdery-pastel like the advertising campaigns of drugstore chains or bubble tea manufacturers.