Stefan Zsaitsits was born in Austria and attended the University of Arts Vienna
(source). Zsaitsits uses an independent style of pencil, creating characters with large heads and contorted facial features to creatue unsettling images of children, staring blankly into space - in most cases. This creates a successfully eery appearance due to how children are associated with being playful, and in most of Zsaitsits pieces, he makes use of children appearing blank, distressed and unhappy. The way he uses layering of different pencil works creates a ghostly effect to his work, which leads to a passive distance between the audience and the work. This idea of passiveness is what is inspiring my own work, as I develop ideas using blank faces, or faces missing essential facial features. Since discovering Zsaitsits in Stage Three, he has easily become my favourite artist, as every piece combines different objects or manipulations that make each piece engaging and unique.
Stefan takes advantage of pencil as a media by creating realistic detail and tone, making the portraits seem realistic, which contrasts with the large heads and cartoon-like proportions.
The use of children as subjects plays on the idea of how children can be perceived as creepy (for example, when a child says something because they fully don't understand the meaning of what they're saying). And this paired with the use of children performing 'creepy' acts (such as, for example, holding a dead chicken in their mouth) creates an unsettling outcome of a young child involved in an animalistic act.
