Michael Staniak’s work, at first glance, lends itself to misunderstanding. The seemingly abstract compositions, dominated by vivid color gradients, seem to tell a story of the digital world, about the flat surface of the screen and the frivolity of our lives on social media.

The work of the Australian artist (born in 1982 in Melbourne) is often identified with Post-Internet art, a term that was released in the early 2010s to identify the work of a group of young artists whose works denote a profound influence of the content they consume on the web. Although Staniak fits this label, both generationally and at the level his dominant aesthetic, as well as him- self acknowledging the influence of this fleeting and controversial artistic movement, other dee- per references cast a new light on his work.