Michael Cherno

Michael Cherno was born in Kyiv in 1992, grew up in Germany and Ukraine and has lived in Toronto since 2018. Growing up in a large family of artists, he became interested in colors and shapes at an early age and came to painting via street art. However, the fact that Michael has also been working as a tattoo artist for years and moves between artistic worlds with great passion proves that he is not just about walls, paper and canvases. The Russian invasion of Ukraine also affected him, as he says himself, “in an unexpected way”, which he also deals with in his art. “Academic Vandalism” essentially means destroying something you have created (yourself) within a few seconds. Using spray paint Michael Cherno transforms his landscapes or still lifes, which he has previously painted in the style of “old masters”, into “destroyed” or “botched” works of art, which thus become something unique again. For Michael this is about freedom. Liberation from the fear of destroying something you have created yourself, the fear of failing, losing something you love or simply not being liked. This has a lot to do with his life story, with his family, the past and the present.