Born in Los Angeles in 1973, the artist Matthew Grabelsky grew up in New York City, which would become the recurring scene of his paintings. In his works, he captures everyday situations of individuals or couples on the New York subway. However, the realistically portrayed figures are strange, almost mythological hybrids with human bodies and animal heads. By showing bears or tigers during rush hour, everyday life is transformed into an unreal scenario. Grabelsky’s realization of these moments combines photorealistic painting with surrealism.

“Deer, elephants or tigers in rush hour contrast the platitudes of the day-to-day with the presence of the extraordinary.”

The piece exhibited here, Lexington Avenue Local (2015), is a work from the portrait series of couples in which only the male figure is a strangely realistic hybrid of human and animal.

On loan courtesy of the Gewobag collection.