FBX 134, Michael Staniak 2024

Michael Staniak’s practice examines the changing dynamics of creative processes in response to the proliferation of social and digital media. Working across painting, sculpture and moving image, he explores the intersections between traditional studio techniques and the aesthetics of screen-based culture. Process is as much a focus of his work as outcome, with labour-intensive layering of materials such as plaster and pigment producing surfaces that often appear digitally rendered. Through distinctive applications of colour and manipulation of mediums, Staniak deliberately disrupts the visual cues that distinguish digital and traditional image production. His works often utilise textures with a trompe-l’oeil effect that manipulate the viewer’s depth perception, evoking cosmic terrains and geological formations. The resulting hypnotic surfaces act as portals into a post-digital world, where physical and virtual experiences converge, prompting reflection on the implications of such an existence. 

Staniak has exhibited extensively internationally and throughout Australia, including solo exhibitions at Marc Bibiloni, Madrid (2025; Hacienda Acamilpa, Mexico City (2025); Palma, Mallorca (2023); Secci Contemporary, Milan (2022); The Hole, New York (2021); The Unit London (2020); Galerie Clemens Gunzer, Kitzbühel (2019); Arts and Culture Centre of Newfoundland, Canada (2019); Achenbach Hagemeier, Düsseldorf (2018); Pearl Lam Galleries, Hong Kong (2018); and the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (2015). Notable group exhibitions include Flat Earth Society, Cement Fondu, Sydney (2019) and The Future of Memory, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2015). He undertook a residency at Fogo Island Arts, Newfoundland, Canada (2018). His sold-out monograph Michael Staniak: IMG_ was published in conjunction with his exhibition at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (2015), curated by Jeffrey Uslip, offering a comprehensive survey of his practice and its development. 

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Michael Staniak

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