Czech illustrator and viral sensation exhibits whimsical works in Prague's NONA

Award-winning Czech dancer and artist Kristián Mensa, also known as Mr. Kriss, has recently opened a new art exhibition at Café Nona, close to Prague’s National Theater. It will run until March 18.

The well-known dancer, who won the 2019 edition of the Czech “Red Bull Dance Your Style” competition, will present 20 audiovisual pieces of artwork that reflect the beauty of nature while showing the negative effect that people can have on the planet.

Fusing dance and art, Mensa says that our body is a type of art form; he aims to display this not only through dance, but also by drawing the human body.

Creating artwork from a young age, Mensa first gained exposure when he uploaded illustrations that he drew in his free time to a website – only to soon find out his works were shared thousands of times. Since then, he hasn’t looked back.

Online news site HuffPost in 2018 listed Mensa in its “20 under 20” list of the young generation’s most talented innovators from around the globe. In the same year, he was named the smartest teenager in the world by The Best Schools website, mainly due to his artistic skills.

He has previously held solo exhibitions in Prague, Bratislava, Copenhagen, and Frankfurt am Main. Commentators say that Mensa is known for “humanizing architecture.” He has collaborated with brands such as BuzzFeed, Red Bull, Heinz, and Adidas.

Mensa is also a self-taught dancer, who primarily specializes in breakdance and experimental dance. He got into the discipline serendipitously at the age of 12, when – during a vacation to Paris – he saw performing street dancers. He came to recognition in 2017 and 2018, when he won breakdancing competitions in London and Bratislava.

He was a part of the Czech Republic’s 2018 Eurovision performance, when he collaborated with singer Mikolas Josef. He has also appeared in the music videos of famous artists such as Kylie Minogue and Rita Ora. 

The 25-year-old dancer will also take part in the Land of Body performance at the National Theater, which is described as a “movement-visual” poem.