On exhibit will be five sculptures made of thousands of brightly-tipped matchsticks, deftly constructed to mimic animal heads in appearance and scale. Since 1982, Mach has created dozens of these matchhead sculptures, each constructed over the course of six weeks using an extremely detailed building process. A life-size rhinoceros, a puma, a brown bear, a ram and an incredibly vivid stag will be seen.  The viewer is confronted by the depth and inherent danger associated with the sculptor’s materials as they relate to the wild animals themselves.  

While developing Mach’s massive installation works in the 1980’s, he would cut out small figures from magazines to illustrate scale instead of using sketches. The cut-outs became art works in their own right, thousands of images turned in to large scale photo-collages. The ability of magazine images to bring color and beauty to subscribers on a daily basis around the world is leveraged to create a lively comment resembling an epic movie still. Consumerism and community are fluidly intertwined. Four of these collages are on display, featuring quintessential New York landmarks in a celebration of American culture.

Additionally, there will be two large scale sculptures made by the artist from thousands of layered coat hangers. Ghostly and spring-like, the coat hangers form people moving in visual vibration. Their identity is masked by the aura created by their protruding hooks. The coat hanger people use traditional sculptural techniques.   A figure is modeled in clay, molded, cast and then the coat hangers are laboriously shaped, fitted and welded around the plastic shape.

David Mach was born in Methil, Fife, Scotland in 1956 and currently lives in England. He studied for five years at the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee, then spent three years working for his MA in Sculpture at the Royal College of Art, London. Since leaving the RCA in 1982 he has lived and worked in London. David Mach has made commissioned public sculptures in England, Scotland, and Australia. Mach is represented in many international collections including the Tate Britain, London; Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow; National Portrait Gallery, London; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; Kawasaki City Museum, Tokyo; Museum of Art, Auckland; Musée d’art Contemporain, Dole, France; and the Musée van Hedendaagse kunst, Antwerp.

David Mach: Sculptures, Collages and Other Works opens on March 10 with a reception from 5:30 – 7:30 pm and will be on view through April 16, 2005. The artist will be present.