DAVID MACH RA
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.
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