Piotr Macha

Born in Sosnowiec, studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań (2004-2010), diploma in Prof. Dominik Lejman’s painting studio in 2010. Research assistant in Prof. Piotr C. Kowalski’s painting studio at the University of Arts in Poznań since 2012.

In his painting, video and installation works, Piotr Macha oscillates among lots of issues and themes. He is interested in the notion of collective identity connected with nationality and the myths it has accumulated. Piotr Macha looks for cracks in different spheres of the so-called reality. In 2012, during his solo exhibition at the Ego Gallery in Poznań entitled “Directed by...”, he presented his own variations relating to the movie trailer for a 1950’s film which was never shown. It announced a  missing link in Polish cinematography, a film which could never have been made and it... was not. The movie followed a perverse socialist convention, in which mutated potato beetles acted as enemies, mass dropped on Polish soil by Western imperialists in order to damage the crops.

In his recent works, he rescales and distorts iconic fragments of reality, totems of culture, and by making them unreal on the surface of the canvas he tries to evoke other functions and meanings, revealing hidden, more rudimentary functions connected with power, authority, religion and potency. Piotr Macha uses a very discreet language of artistic expression, and his works display a superb sense of time and place.

Piotr C. Kowalski