For this year's edition of ARTMUC, we present a selection of figurative positions featuring works by Fin DAC, SKIO, Alexis Stephens and Guy Denning.At the centre of the presentation is the human figure: not as a classical likeness, but as a projection surface for perception, transformation and inner states. Moving between urban art, contemporary figuration and painterly gesture, the works explore how identity is constructed in the interplay of body, space and image.The four artistic positions open up different approaches. Fin DAC develops a highly aesthetic, precise visual language in which cultural references and traditions condense into a distinct form of identity. At its core are strong, self-assured female figures who radiate presence and poise.SKIO's works emerge from purely analogue painting, yet their visual effect recalls the logic of digital and AI-generated imagery. Shaped by a reduced, Bauhaus-inspired formal vocabulary, the compositions take on an almost otherworldly quality, reflecting a perception increasingly defined by hybrid realities.In the works of Alexis Stephens, the body itself becomes a vehicle for movement, energy and decision. Gestures appear as frozen moments of a dynamic process in which control and impulse are present at once. Guy Denning, by contrast, reduces the figure to a raw, immediate presence. His works address the human condition with a directness that oscillates between vulnerability and resistance.Opening Hours ARTMUC May 2026 Friday, 1 May 2026 / 11 am – 7 pm Saturday, 2 May 2026 / 11 am – 7 pm Sunday, 3 May 2026 / 11 am – 6 pmGETTING THERE MTC Locations / Ingolstädter Straße 45-47 / 80807 MunichParking: The venue offers more than 1,000 parking spaces on site.Public transport: U-Bahn line U2 – Frankfurter Ring station (approx. 7-minute walk to the venue)

First impressions deceive. We all know this, and yet we keep letting ourselves be seduced by beautiful appearances. The exhibition Looks are deceiving brings together four artists whose portraits explore beauty, aesthetics and the way they are perceived in our society.The Beautiful IllusionIn an age when millions of new images circulate every hour across the internet and social media, this is hardly surprising. We know how images are manipulated, and that even videos can now be altered with filters in real time. Yet they still shape the way we see reality. Recently, artificial intelligence has begun to generate images that look deceptively real, taking this game of confusion to a whole new level.Playing with PerceptionThe works in this exhibition are real. They were not generated by a computer from a few lines of text, but painted by hand. And yet they play with our perception. The portraits, some of them seemingly photorealistic, are blurred, distorted and overlaid with geometric elements in places. Artificial, often monochrome palettes create a visual quality familiar from hyperrealistic computer graphics. Therein lies the particular appeal of these works: they invite us to linger and immerse ourselves in the beautiful illusion.Ben SlowBen Slow uses a variety of materials for his mostly monochrome portraits. His dramatic works move between abstraction and figuration. He draws inspiration from the vibrant life of London's neighbourhoods, with their electrifying mix of cultures, and from the colourful characters he meets on his travels..EPODThe work of .EPOD is strongly influenced by graffiti, conceptual art and fine art. The fusion of these three influences results in a distinctive, instantly recognisable signature. In his works, .EPOD combines our idea of the future with vintage, fashion with technology, and reality with estrangement.Fin DACOver the years, Fin DAC has developed an unmistakable visual language he calls "Urban Aesthetics". He is known for his depictions of Eurasian women. His works address themes such as female emancipation and empowerment, sexual stereotypes and colonially shaped perceptions.SKIOSKIO observes an everyday life that is becoming increasingly virtual through the growing dominance of social media. In his paintings, he examines the uniformity that society imposes on the individual and the demands placed on beauty. Inspired by the Bauhaus and Surrealism, he seeks a balance between complexity and minimalism, experimenting with geometry, anatomy and colour."Looks are deceiving"Exhibition 23 June – 5 AugustOpening Friday, 23 June, 7 pmPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

Mixed reality refers to environments or systems that blend a person's natural perception with an artificial one. At first, this sounds like science fiction. But if we look at the term less technically, it quickly becomes clear how much we already live with blended realities today. The media, the immense flood of information from the internet and, not least, social networks put our sense of what is real to the test almost every day.Nothing Is What It SeemsThe exhibition Mixed Reality brings together three artists who engage with these blended realities, questioning beauty, aesthetics and the way they are perceived in our society. Fin DAC, who has been part of our programme since 2012, presents new works. We are also delighted to introduce SKIO and Vermibus, two more exciting positions, at our gallery for the first time.Fin DAC's collages show literally "torn" female protagonists, recombining different versions of what appears to be the same image. In doing so, he challenges sexual stereotypes and colonially shaped perceptions. SKIO observes an everyday life that is becoming increasingly virtual through the growing dominance of social media. In his paintings, he examines the uniformity that society imposes on the individual and the standards of beauty imposed on women in particular. Vermibus, too, addresses beauty ideals shaped by society and the media. He rehumanises his previously depersonalised models by literally dissolving them, delivering a sharp critique of the advertising and fashion industries.On show are collages, paintings and analogue-manipulated photographs.Fin DACIn his rapidly evolving career as an urban artist, Irish artist Fin DAC has perfected a highly distinctive visual language that unites elements of contemporary art and urban art. He calls it "Urban Aesthetics". Self-taught and a nonconformist, he draws on influences ranging from dark graphic novels to the works of Francis Bacon and Aubrey Beardsley. In little more than a decade, this style has brought him a remarkably successful career: his originals and editions are highly sought after today, and he has a loyal following of collectors worldwide.In his works, Fin DAC explores female emancipation and empowerment, as well as the reorientation of the male, colonially shaped gaze on women of other cultures. He mostly paints Eurasian women, whom he stages in traditional and ceremonial dress. His interest, however, is neither superficial nor thoughtless. Fin DAC reframes the gender-specific and cultural stereotypes that surround these women, creating a narrative that celebrates their sensuality with sensitivity rather than appropriation.In his murals, the women are often large and imposing. They claim control over their urban surroundings, yet remain feminine, with classically delicate features: powerful and vulnerable, aesthetic and intellectual, physical and emotional. Although his murals can be found all over the world, Fin DAC remains an outsider in the street art scene, preferring to follow his own path with personal projects.SKIOIn his new series Human in the City, SKIO questions the situation of the individual in a modern world and its oppressive anonymity. It is said that the eyes are the mirror of the soul. SKIO deliberately omits them in his paintings, thereby heightening the sense of anonymity. The very absence of eye contact opens up a space in which viewers cannot escape the tension inherent in the images.SKIO places his figures in Surrealist-inspired architectures, questioning our place in the urban environment. He plays with the aesthetics and concepts of virtual worlds. Some of his protagonists appear to wear VR headsets, pointing to the growing virtual dimension of our lives.SKIO painted his first murals in 1993 in the region around Nice. After a period of experimenting with typography and graffiti, he soon turned to more figurative imagery, initially inspired by pop and television culture. Today, he combines geometric and architectural forms with portraits that resemble sculptures. Inspired by the Bauhaus and Surrealism, he seeks a balance between complexity and minimalism, experimenting with geometry, anatomy and colour. His work has been shown at numerous exhibitions and festivals around the world, including in Paris, London, Mexico and Shanghai. In recent years, SKIO's work has undergone a remarkable development that has brought it to the attention of many urban art collectors.VermibusSmoother skin, smaller bags under the eyes, larger eyes and fuller lips: "photoshopping" the human body towards supposed perfection has long become the norm in advertising. Beauty presents itself as a synonym for success and happiness. And although most people recognise that this premise is false, it continues to be socially accepted and followed by the vast majority. On social media, influencers adopt these advertising concepts and carry them to a broad audience that has begun to present itself as a brand or a product.Berlin-based artist and activist Vermibus has developed a unique artistic process through which he questions contemporary ideals of beauty. His focus is the shift away from individual identity towards conformism. He attracted considerable attention when he began removing advertising posters from public space, altering them in his studio and then reinstalling them in the city. Public space is central to the message of his work.Vermibus was born in 1987 in Palma de Mallorca, where he became involved in the local graffiti scene at an early age. In 2003, he moved to Madrid, discovered new painting techniques and began deconstructing advertising with stencils. Shortly afterwards, he worked as an illustrator and later as a photographer for various advertising agencies. At the end of 2010, he moved to Berlin and was immediately captivated by its vibrant street art scene. Soon after, he launched the project Unveiling Beauty, documented in 2015 by photographer Mark Rigney and filmmaker Xar Lee, which took his style to a new conceptual level. The project led to a series of public interventions during the Fashion Weeks in New York, London, Milan and Paris. With these interventions in the "Big Four", Vermibus set out to confront beauty cults at the very heart of their creation. Since then, his work has been featured in numerous exhibitions and publications. His distinctive visual language and radical conceptual approach have earned him international acclaim and an ever-growing base of collectors.Fin DAC, SKIO, Vermibus – "Mixed Reality"Exhibition 8 April – 13 MayOpening 8 April, 7 pmPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

A stencil is made of what is missing. Every area cut out of the stencil lets the paint through; everything that remains stays blank. The image thus emerges from the interplay of positive and negative, of surface and void.A Technique with Many FacesEver since Blek le Rat sprayed his first stencils onto the walls of Paris in the early 1980s, the stencil has become one of the defining techniques of urban art. With STENCILS ONLY, we once again dedicate an entire exhibition to this technique. Five artists show how differently stencils can be used: from photographically precise portraits to sculpturally intertwined ribbons and works on layers of posters taken directly from the street. The artists come from the UK, Ireland, Chile, France and Poland.Copyright British artist Copyright studied photography and video editing, discovering along the way that he could turn his own photographs into stencils. His works combine stencils and spray paint with oil and acrylic painting, playing with the ideals of consumer society, such as beauty, fashion and pop culture, which he contrasts with references to mythology and spirituality. He names Alfred Hitchcock, Andy Warhol and Banksy among his sources of inspiration.Fin DAC Irish artist Fin DAC has developed an unmistakable visual language he calls "Urban Aesthetics". He is known for his depictions of Eurasian women, often masked and in traditional dress, through which he explores female empowerment, sexual stereotypes and colonially shaped perceptions. Self-taught, he cites dark graphic novels as well as Francis Bacon and Aubrey Beardsley as influences.Otto Schade Born in Chile, the artist also known as "Osch" began his career as an architect and urban sculptor. He has lived in London since 2006, where his architectural understanding of space led him to develop his distinctive "ribbon" style. The intertwining bands shape his subjects and give them an almost sculptural presence.STF Moscato Born in 1976, Marseille artist Stéphane Moscato, aka STF, is a child of punk. For many years, he has been peeling entire layers of posters off the walls of his city and mounting them onto canvas in his studio. Using stencils and spray paint, he creates unique works guided by these street fragments, through which a social and political stance subtly shines.Tankpetrol Polish-born artist Tankpetrol lives and works in Manchester, where he first discovered stencil art. His highly detailed works usually centre on female figures in powerful poses, often in military-inspired clothing and surrounded by animals, geometric shapes and typography. He deliberately avoids multi-layered stencils in order to preserve the original character of stencil art.STENCILS ONLY A group exhibition with works by Copyright, Fin DAC, Otto Schade, STF Moscato and TankpetrolOpening Friday, 17 March 2017, 7 – 10 pmExhibition 17 March – 28 April 2017Pretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

A year full of exhibitions, encounters and new works is drawing to a close. To round off the year, we are bringing together 16 artists who shape the Pretty Portal programme in a large group exhibition. There is no overarching theme, but instead a broad cross-section of the diversity of urban contemporary art.Prints and EditionsOne focus of the exhibition is on prints and editions. Screen prints, woodcuts and other printmaking techniques have a long tradition in urban art. Closely linked to the history of the poster and the stencil, they make it possible to bring a pictorial idea to a wider audience in a limited edition. As a rule, the sheets are signed and numbered, and with hand-pulled editions in particular, small variations make each impression something special.For collectors, editions are an ideal way to get started, and for many a chance to own works by their favourite artists. And anyone still looking for a special gift will find a real treasure trove here, especially in the run-up to Christmas.16 PositionsOn show are works by BTOY, DECYCLE, FAKE, Fin DAC, ICY & SOT, L.E.T., Limow, Natalia Rak, Otto Schade, PDOT, Pixelpancho, Roman Klonek, Rowan Newton, Shai Dahan, Sokar Uno and Wolfgang Krell. The range extends from stencils and paste-ups to figurative painting, drawing and woodcuts. Artists from Düsseldorf are shown alongside international positions from across Europe and the USA.YEAR END SHOW 2016Opening Friday, 2 December 2016, 7 – 10 pmExhibition 2 December 2016 – 10 February 2017Pretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

Groupshow feat. A1ONE, BTOY, DECYCLE, ELIOT, FinDAC, JANA&JS, kurznachzehn, L.E.T., Orticanoodles, Tankpretrol, Wolfgang Krell

On the street, repetition is what counts: a stencil allows a motif to be applied quickly, again and again. In the gallery, something else comes to the fore. Here it is about the technique each artist has found for themselves, a visual language that can be recognised at first glance, and the concept, the idea behind the image. In short: the artistic signature.Originals and editionsIn STENCILS ONLY 2013 we present original works by Jana & JS, L.E.T., Tankpetrol and Stefan Winterle. We are also showing the latest editions by BTOY, DECYCLE, Fin DAC and Orticanoodles, released by Pretty Portal in November and December 2013.Jana & JSJana & JS are an artist couple, she from Austria, he from France. They spray portraits based on their own photographs, often of themselves, on walls, wood and found objects.L.E.T.L.E.T. stands for “Les Enfants Terribles”. Since 1992 the Düsseldorf artist has shaped the streets of his home town with stencils and paste-ups. He already took part in STENCILS ONLY in 2011.TankpetrolBorn in Poland, Tankpetrol lives in Manchester, where he discovered stencil art. His works mostly centre on women in military-style clothing, surrounded by animals, geometric shapes and self-designed lettering.Stefan WinterleStefan Winterle was born in Lörrach in 1976 and started doing graffiti in 1993. Since 2000 he has focused entirely on cutting and spraying stencils, a process he describes as meditative: while preparing a set of stencils, he analyses the motif and plans the colours. Since 2010 he has also been curator of the Carhartt Gallery in Weil am Rhein.BTOYBTOY is the Barcelona artist Andrea Michaelsson. Her stencils are based on photographs and focus on strong female figures. In February she showed her solo exhibition The dispossessed with us.DECYCLE“Multi-layered is probably the best word for it,” says DECYCLE of his style (translated). Each picture is made from several stencils, one per colour, which are layered on top of each other to create the final motif. The content is multi-layered too: DECYCLE does not want to make a definitive statement but to make people think, and it is precisely the different interpretations that matter to him. His name stands for breaking out of habitual patterns of thought and out of his own daily routine, and for art that makes its way to places where no one expects it: the street.Fin DACThe Irish artist Fin DAC lives in London. He is known for portraits of women with a coloured band across the eyes, combining stencil and freehand painting.OrticanoodlesOrticanoodles are the Italian artist couple Alita and Wally from Milan. They are known for unusually complex, multi-layered stencil works.“STENCILS ONLY 2013” BTOY, DECYCLE, Fin DAC, Jana & JS, L.E.T., Orticanoodles, Tankpetrol, Stefan Winterle Vernissage: Friday, 22 November 2013 Exhibition: 22 November – 23 December 2013 Pretty Portal, Brunnenstraße 12, 40223 DüsseldorfNote (2026): Stefan Winterle ran the gallery in Weil am Rhein, now Colab Gallery, as its curator for a total of 14 years.

From Painting to Stencil: the show FACE OFF at Pretty Portal, presents different perspectives from international Urban Artists, on the topic portrait. Ben Slow C215 David Monllor Fin DAC Guy Denning Natalia Rak Onur Dinc OrticanoodlesWolfgang Krell Ausstellung 14.6. - 20.07. Vernissage 14.6. 19 – 22h