“I am moved by the freedom that art gives”

Luiza Poreda, 24 September 2020

For Michał Mąka, an important point is contact with the viewer, both in art gallery and through works that can be found in the public space. He likes street art, because paintings painted on the street are for everyone, regardless of their social status and familiarity with art. See his paintings painted in the Online Art in House Gallery!

 

 

For Michał Mąka, this freedom that art gives is a huge driving force behind his creativity. From childhood, he attended art classes, which even then gave him this feeling of the desired freedom. Around 2000, he discovered graffiti while reading the Polish hip-hop magazine “Ślizg”, which had photographs of graffiti – mostly painted trains. Fascinated by the activities with the paint can, he took up the so-called writing and painting simple letters. Most of the designs were not on the walls and never saw the light of day, but wherever Michał Mąka was, he tried to leave a trace. At that time, virtually no one knew about his passion. The artist used to sneak out into the city in the evenings, buying spray cans for the money he saved. He was always alone, never belonged to any graffiti group.

– I have never taken painting seriously, it has always been my hobby, a great escape from everyday life. Around 2008, I discovered hand-cut templates. It was the second beginning in my work. After an unsuccessful attempt to study in a boring field of study, work abroad and another waste of time, I came to the conclusion that the only way in my life is art – says Michał Mąka.

In 2010, he began his artistic studies in the field of Artistic Education of Fine Arts at the Kalisz Faculty of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. In 2015, he graduated with honors, incl. for activity and creating, together with his colleague Adrian Kempa, the Entrance / Exit student gallery under the leadership of Dr. Joanna Dudek. This gallery is still in operation today.

The digitization of reality and the human condition in the world

What is Michał Mąka’s passion for painting? As the artist says, he is interested in man and his condition in the contemporary world. We live in the world of digitization, and hence, a person feels a strong bond with a smartphone.

– The question arises to what extent this digitization and bond affect the human psyche and how it affects emotions. In 2018, my project “Error” was created, which was an attempt at painting related to the digital error that affects us through the aforementioned digitization – says Michał.

As part of this project, several works were created in post-industrial spaces, in abandoned buildings in Poland, as well as two murals that Michał Mąka painted for the BEYOND WALLS festival in Lynn, Massachusetts (USA).

 

 

At the turn of 2019/2020, a series of works entitled “Digital Antique” was also created, in which the artist returned to painting works with hand-cut templates. In the new project, he tried to go a step further and combine the inspirations of today’s digital art with the image of ancient sculpture. The work was aimed at recreating various processes that are generated by incorrect data writing. The visual defect was the starting point for the creation of figurative images that begin to present something completely new.

– It seemed to be a very abstract vision, but perfectly reproduced antique sculptures combined with the art of chance provoked reflection. Through my works, I wanted to convince the viewer to reflect on how art has evolved over the centuries, what period we are in now and where art is heading now – says Michał.

“I am very happy that I can live as I want”

As Michał Mąka says, at this point, his six-month-old son and wife are the most important for him:

– It seems to me that now I am able to combine being a young dad, a husband and being an artist. In my life the only thing I wanted was happiness and fulfillment that can be poured onto a canvas or a wall. I am very happy that I can live as I want and support my family from art – he says.

For Michał, an important point is also contact with the viewer, both in the gallery and through works that can be found in the public space. She likes art in urban space, because paintings on the street are for everyone, regardless of their social status and experience with art.

– I try to make my painting understandable to most recipients. Murals and works placed on city streets inspire me to paint my works on canvas. They are the starting point for creating in the studio – says Mąka.

In July, Michał Mąka painted a mural entitled LOOK AROUND in his hometown of Kalisz, in the courtyard of the Calisia One complex. This project gave him a lot of thinking related to painting. The artist is returning to the studio and will be implementing new creative insights that have emerged recently.

We look forward to the effects of his work.

Gallery of paintings by Michał Mąka in Art in House