Florian Raiss’s representational style is the result of a hybrid of cultural and stylistic influences: Brazilian-born and of German descent, the artist studied painting in Rome and Florence as well as design in Mexico. Many of Raiss’s works reference—or rather, playfully manipulate—the tradition of figural sculpture, particularly those from Greco-Roman Classicism.

His figures, however, are expressionistically exaggerated, and give the impression of elasticity and softness. Sometimes the forms even taper, morph, or are reduced to abstraction. Raiss also makes painted ceramic sculptures that riff on Grecian black-figure pottery.