Magnus Gjoen 'I Hold A Beast, An Angel And A Madman In Me' Print Available

Artist: Magnus Gjoen
Title: I Hold A Beast, An Angel And A Madman In Me
Medium: Multi Color Screen Print
Size: 27.6 x 71 Inches
Edition: 10
Price: $2680

  

Magnus Gjoen is a London born contemporary artist who reimagines the past through a jewel toned lens. Trained in fashion design and raised across Europe by Norwegian parents, he spent a decade at the elbow of Vivienne Westwood before turning his flat into a gallery of altered Old Masters and discovering that walls could be canvas. Working now in limited edition giclee and screen prints, he lifts fragments of baroque paintings, religious frescoes and royal porcelain from museum archives, then overlays them with lacquered skulls, grenades or skateboard graphics so that fragility and power swap roles within a single frame. 

His method begins with high resolution scans of heritage artworks which he digitally dissects, adding gold leaf highlights and candy coloured glazes until a grenade resembles Sèvres china and a skull glows like stained glass. The finished pieces are produced on heavy cotton rag paper, each layer of archival ink building a depth that echoes the original oil while remaining unmistakably contemporary. Collectors respond to the dark humour embedded in the beauty: memento mori becomes fashion accessory, weapon becomes ornament, inviting a second look at both art history and modern appetite.

Gjoen exhibits worldwide, from Tokyo to Santa Monica, and describes his style as a bridge between Andy Warhol and William Morris, a continuum where rebellion meets luxury. By fusing reverence with subversion, he proves that the past can still shock, seduce and speak urgently to the present.