Michael Staniak’s practice concerns the changing dynamics of images and materiality in light of the proliferation of social and digital media. His process-oriented paintings and sculptures explore the relationship between two- and three-dimensionality in digital images. Through the application of imagery and manipulation of mediums, Staniak deliberately disrupts the visual cues that help distinguish digital and traditional image production. His works often combine textural and printed elements, creating a trompe-l’œil effect that manipulates with the viewer’s depth perception. The resulting hypnotic, textured surfaces act as a portal to a post-digital world, one in which we inhabit both physical and virtual spheres, and reflect on the issues this archival existence can entail.

Staniak holds a BFA and an MFA from the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, as well as a BA in Digital Media Communications from the Middle Tennessee State University, USA. He has exhibited extensively internationally, including at the Museum of Contemporary Art, St. Louis, USA; Steve Turner Contemporary, Los Angeles; The Hole, New York; The Unit Gallery, London; Eduardo Secci Gallery, Florence; Annarunna Gallery, Naples; Galerie Clemens Gunzer, Kitzbuhel; Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna; La Bibi Gallery, Mallorca; Arts and Cultural Centre of Newfoundland, Canada; Achenbach Hagemeier, Dusseldorf; and Pearl Lam Galleries, Hong Kong. In 2017, the Contemporary Art Museum of St. Louis published an artist monograph of Staniak’s practice, titled IMG_. His work has been featured in numerous publications, including Australiana to Zeitgeist: An A to Z of Australian Contemporary Art, Thames and Hudson, London; Feelings: Soft Art, Skira Rizzoli, New York; and Postdigital Artisans, Frame Publishers, Amsterdam.

Michael Staniak

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