MICHAEL STANIAK / ARTIST INTERVIEW

Michael Staniak_SC/IMG_089_acrylic and casting compound on board with steel frames_60 x 45cm

Why did you decide to become an artist?

No decision was made. It was all very organic, or something like that.

Can you explain the process behind your work and the inspiration behind this process?

These works are process-based, meaning the act of making is just as important as the result. Non-traditional materials are used to enhance the likelihood of chance dictating outcome. They are colored in ways that mimic digital printing, mainly inkjet printing. 

Conceptually what are the ideas and concepts being explored and conveyed through your work? 

I see myself as a post-Internet artist, someone whose work is informed by my act of surfing the web and engaging in its aesthetics. But I don’t make work that is always intended for the Internet, instead lives in the tradition of the gallery confines. Although, eventually the work ends up on the Internet anyway.

What are your key influences as an artist?

Digital Media and the Internet… And painting and sometimes objects.

What is it that you want audiences to take away from your work?

I hope the audience takes nothing away. Hopefully, the audience will add ideas and discourse.

Tell us about one highlight from your career so far…

That would have to be my first international show in New York this year. 

What else do you have coming up in the near future and what are you working on next?

I am curating a pavilion of the first online biennale called The Wrong, to be held out of Sao Paulo, Brazil, this November. I am also involved in a group exhibition at Judith Charles Gallery in New York until October.