Literature

DAVID MACH RA

one of the UKs most respected artist David Mach RA .

Recognised worldwide for his imaginative sculptures and installations this extraordinary sculpture “Keeper of the flame: David Mach R A (b. 1956) is a Scottish sculptor and installation artist and currently Professor of Sculpture at the Royal Academy Schools. In the 1980s, Mach began to produce his matchstick series, where he re-imagines human or animal heads using coloured upturned heads of matches to create 3D artworks. The sculptures are crafted by first making a clay model of the head and then moulding a fibreglass or plastic version upon which the matchsticks are glued. He uses Japanese matchsticks as their heads come in a variety of different colours. After accidentally setting fire to one of these heads, Mach started to ignite his pieces as a form of performance art; he set alight his sculpture of the devil's head to mark the start of the Edinburgh Art Festival in 2011. Mach describes his work as "big in gesture and big in proportion; it demands your attention and gets it". These wonderful sculptures reflect this statement with great effect.

Biography

David Mach is one of the UK’s most successful and respected artists, known for his dynamic and imaginative large scale

collage, sculpture and installations using a wide range of materials, including coat hangers, matches, magazines and many

others. The Scotsman describes his work as ‘big on gesture and big in proportion, it demands your attention and gets it’.

Mach’s first solo exhibition was held at the Lisson Gallery, London in 1982. His international reputation was quickly established

and he has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions around the world including London, New York, Los Angeles,

Melbourne, Hong Kong, Hakone, Tel Aviv and Warsaw. Public commissions include the tumbling telephone boxes, “Out of

Order” in Kingston, “Train” in Darlington; “Big Heads”, visible from the M8 between Glasgow and Edinburgh; “It Takes Two”,

sited North of Paris and in Marseille, Likeness Guaranteed commissioned by McMaster Museum of Art, Hamilton, and

most recently, “Giants” in Vinadio, Italy and “Phantom”, commissioned by Morrisons supermarket for the Promenade in Kirkcaldy, Fife

Born in 1956 in Fife, David Mach attended Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art where he chose to specialise in sculpture

because he thought it was the most demanding, intellectually and physically. Following a postgraduate year, Mach won a

scholarship to attend Art College in Warsaw. As Martial Law had been declared in Poland, he was unable to take up his

place but instead was invited to do his MA at the Royal College of Art.

Mach became a part-time lecturer in the Sculpture School, Kingston University from 1982 to 1986 and was a lecturer at

the Contemporary Art Summer School, Kitakyushu, Japan from 1987 to 1991. In 1988 he was nominated for the Turner

Prize and four years later won Glasgow’s Lord Provost Prize. He became a Royal Academician in 1998. In 2000 he was

appointed Professor of Sculpture at the Royal Academy Schools, London.

He received an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Dundee in 2002. In 2003 his “Arm’s Length” sculpture of a woman made in coat hangers won The Jack Goldhill Award for sculpture at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. In 2004

he was elected an honorary member of the Royal Scottish Academy and the same year, the University of Dundee appointed

him Professor of Inspiration and Discovery. From 2006-2010 he became a Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery.

In 2011 Mach was awarded the Bank of Scotland Herald Angel Award for his exhibition “Precious Light”, a daring contemporary

interpretation of the King James Bible in the form of large-scale collage and sculpture. The same year, he also won

the Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Award for Art.

David Mach currently works from his studio based in London.

CV

1956 Born in Methil, Fife (Scotland)

1974/79 Duncan of Jordanston College of Art, Dundee (Scotland)

1975 Pat Holmes Memorial Prize

1976 Duncan of Drumfork Travelling Scholarship

1977 SED minor travelling scholarship

1978 SED major travelling scholarship

1979/82 Royal College of Art (RCA), London.

1982 RCA Drawing Prize

1988 Nominated for the Turner Prize, Tate Gallery, London

1992 Won Lord Provost’s Award, RGI, Glasgow

1998 Elected Member of the Royal Academy of Arts

1999 Visiting Professor, Sculpture Department, Edinburgh College of Art

2000 Appointed Professor of Sculpture, Royal Academy Schools, London

2002 Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Dundee University

2004 Made Honorary Member of the Royal Scottish Academy

First Visiting Professor of Inspiration and Discovery at the University of Dundee (Scotland)

2006-2010 Elected to the board of the National Portrait Gallery

2011 Bank of Scotland Herald Angel Award 2011 winner for Precious Light

2011 Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Award for Art

BIOGRAPHY

2015 “Phantom”, commissioned by Morrisons Supermarkets, Scotland

2012 The Vinadio “Giants”, VIAPAC Project, Regione Piemonte, Italy

2002 Collage Portrait of Glasgow commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art, Glasgow

2000 Unveiled “Good Guys, Bad Guys” & “Scamble”, sculptures commissioned by Chesterfield Council, UK

1999 Installed “A National Portrait”, a 70m x 3m collage of Britain, commissioned by the NMEC for the Self Portrait Zone of the Millennium Dome at Greenwich, UK

1999 Unveiled “Big Heids”, three sculptures sited by the M8 motorway in North Lanark, Scotland,

commissioned by North Lanark Council, UK

1998 Installed gargoyle sculpture commissioned by the town of Nicosia, Cyprus

1997 Unveiled “Train”, Britain’s largest contemporary public sculpture in Darlington, commissioned by

Darlington Council, Morrison Supermarkets and Northern Arts, UK

1997 Installed “It Takes Two”, on Circular Quay, Sydney, Australia, for Sydney International Arts Festival

1996 “Urn”, commissioned for their collection by McMaster Museum of Art, Hamilton, Ontario

1994 “Temple at Tyre”, Leith Docks, Edinburgh, commissioned by Edinburgh City Council to support their bid to be City of Architecture and Design

1989 “Out of Order”, Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, commissioned by the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames

SELECTED PUBLIC ART PROJECTS & COMMISSIONS

2015 Precious Light – Turin, Italy

2013 David Mach, New Works, Forum Gallery, NY

Precious Light - Palazzo Frangini, Venice, Italy 2012 David Mach-Precious Light, Galway, Ireland

Mach-Mania : the David Mach Show, Opera Gallery, Hong Kong 2011 David Mach-Precious Light, City Arts Centre, Edinburgh

2010 “Iconography”, Opera Gallery, London

2009 Mach, Opera Gallery, Geneva

2008 “Size doesn’t matter”, Art Center de Vishal, Haarlem, Holland

2008 “Size doesn’t matter”, Art Center de Vishal, Haarlem, Holland

“Breaking Images”, The Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong

“David Mach”, DUTAC, Dubai

2007 “David Mach-In Seine”, Opera Garnier, Paris

“Postcard Collages”, Jill George Gallery, London

“David Mach”, Forum Gallery, NY

2006 “Visit London”, Touring exhibition, London, Milan, Berlin, Barcelona

“The State of Heads”, Jill George Gallery, London

“Fortune”, Mint Club, Hong Kong

2005 “New Collages and Sculpture, Forum Gallery, NY

2004 “New Collages”, Jill Georges Gallery, London

2003 “Straight Up”, Galerie Jérome de Noirmont, Paris

2002 “Hell Bent”, Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow

2001 Touring exhibition of original artwork of “Portrait of Britain” – 17 different venues

“David Mach”, Galeria Communale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome

2000 “The Mild Bunch”, APT Gallery, London

“Species”, Galerie Jérome de Noirmont, Paris

1999 “The National Portrait” commissioned for the Self Portrait Zone, The Dome, Greenwich, London