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A person with orange hair and a fringe looks off to the side with a surprised expression. They are set against a bright blue sky filled with fluffy white clouds.

Sexual, surreal and disturbing: the weird work of super-skilled Claudia Maté

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Date
25 May 2016

What if women were stripped to robotic facsimiles of themselves, composed of blank-eyed stares and heightened sexual characteristics? What if an online shop resembled a clinical, peculiar office space – a water-cooler orbited by signs and symbols of capitalism and digital culture? What if David Bowie’s eye became a disembodied globule, floating in space?

These strange and rather eerie eventualities have been explored with superb digital skill and considerable creative wit by one Claudia Maté, a Spanish-born, London-based digital artist.

Working across programming, 3D, video, video games, VR, gifs and sound, alongside her personal art practice Claudia has clocked up an impressive client list including Adult Swim, MTV, Gucci and ShowStudio. Her work manages to blend the familiar with the odd, and the futuristic with strange retro tropes to glorious effect, and it’s little surprise her name has cropped up on many a ones to watch list. She certainly is one to watch, but beware of getting too embroiled in her site: I’ve lost half a day in there (and then some), and boy it’s been enjoyable.

An animation of a 3D rendered child wearing a white nappy against a black background. The figure shifts their weight and moves their arms and head in a subtle, jerky motion.
Above
Left

Claudia Maté: Gif

An animation of a grey hand with long red nails against a black background. The hand is outlined in green and shifts its finger positions.
An animation of a stylised, textured eye with two wing-like protrusions on either side. The eye morphs and shifts its shape against a black background.
Above
Left

Claudia Maté: Gif

An animation of a stylised human skull against a black background. The skull’s jaw drops open and its eyes blink.
A person with long blonde hair looks directly at the camera with a neutral expression. They wear a cream-coloured turtleneck and have their arms folded.
Above

Claudia Maté: Portrait

A 3D render of a surreal office space set against a dark grey background. A water cooler stands in the centre, surrounded by floating social media and payment icons, a brown table, and the word “Wellness”.
Above

Claudia Maté: Ecommerce shop

A screenshot of a portfolio website for Claudia Mate. A grid of colourful project thumbnails fills the main screen, with a navigation menu on the left listing links to “Bio”, “Exhibitions” and “Works”.
Above

Claudia Maté: Portfolio site

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About the Author

Emily Gosling

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Emily joined It’s Nice That as Online Editor in the summer of 2014 after four years at Design Week. She is particularly interested in graphic design, branding and music. After working It's Nice That as both Online Editor and Deputy Editor, Emily left the company in 2016.

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