Your early works are inspired by fashion, a theme that remains strong in your portfolio. When did your passion for fashion begin?
I’m actually less interested in fashion itself and more in what fashion imagery offers—a flight of fancy, a perfection of an idea, and highly aestheticized visuals. I often work from found imagery, buying a large number of magazines for their transportive and creative content. I’m particularly drawn to how contemporary fashion portrays the male form, the dandy, and the fiction of masculinity.

In 2002, your focus shifted to animal paintings, such as depictions of deer and horses. What inspired this new direction?
I grew up with horses and competed in equestrian sports like dressage and show jumping. I’m captivated by their beauty and the obsessive precision of equestrian competition. Horses often symbolize aristocracy and wealth but also have roots in military traditions. In my paintings, I strip them of riding equipment, presenting them as plummeting or falling figures—symbols of luxury and vulnerability.

The trophy works extend this theme. I collect taxidermy—not out of an interest in hunting, but because I find them beautiful, like trophies of beauty. Their stillness represents a kind of eternal elegance. These works also comment on how art is collected as status symbols, with prominent collectors often showcasing their acquisitions like trophies.

Your works Le Fontaine de Sang and Atrial Fibrillation use passionate red tones. What is the sentiment behind this choice?
These pieces are part of a series inspired by Baroque and Rococo palaces, places of faded romance and grandeur. These works depict empty spaces, hinting at the lives once lived there. The red tones convey a creeping, irrational love—symbolic of an overwhelming passion.

Atrial Fibrillation refers to a cardiovascular surgery technique that “mends a broken heart,” as explained to me by a renowned Australian heart surgeon. I found this poetic. Le Fontaine de Sang draws its title from Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal and portrays a fountain hemorrhaging—a metaphor for beauty entwined with fragility and decay.

Your recent work, Echo, combines themes of Narcissus and aristocracy. What does this symbolize in today’s society?
Echo depicts the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, its grandeur replaced by chrome gym equipment—symbols of modern vanity. Narcissus’s reflection, multiplied infinitely in the mirrors and chrome, mirrors today’s obsession with self-image and perfection. The hall becomes a metaphor for unrequited love, where even beauty turns on itself.

Through mythology and contemporary influences, your works reinterpret timeless themes. How important are these references?
They’re vital. Enduring ideas about beauty, youth, and love resonate deeply. Jeff Koons says, “Embrace your past,” and I try to live by that. Mining the past helps me understand the present and anticipate the future.

What are you working on now?
I’m currently preparing for several exhibitions. Recently, I collaborated with a Sydney jeweler for Art Month Sydney, creating playful still-life sculptures using colorful Play-Doh and oven-baked clay.

6 Questions with Michael Zavros

• Favorite word: Arcane
• Favorite place: Paris
• Favorite object: Lion skull
• Who inspires you? Phoebe and Olympia
• What makes you smile? Apples
• What aggravates you? Stupidity