Staniak’s work, at first glance, lends itself to misunderstanding. The seemingly abstract compositions, dominated by vivid color gradients, seem to tell a story of the digital world, about the flat surface of the screen and the frivolity of our lives on social media.

“I am part of the generation that went from primitive computers, with black screens covered in green text” says the artist, “to the hyper-digital world we live in today.” Discovering the possibilities of image editing programs like Photoshop transformed his perception of what could be created with a computer, despite the limitations of early graphical interfaces and primitive drawing programs like MS Paint. His attention, however, soon focused on color, specifically electric blue, which is established as the normative color to designate hyperlinks on a web dominated by texts and with very few images, due to bandwidth limitations. of telephone connections. His painting is thus characterized by the prominence of color, in monochromatic compositions or with subtle gradients of two or three tones. Although these expanses of color are not flat, as might be expected from an artist trained in front of the screen and who, by his own admission, identifies his compositions with the filters of image editing software, so characteristic of the work of other artists such as Cory Archangel or Artie Vierkant. In the practise of Michael Staniak, some enigmatic textures are imposed that prevent us from detaching ourselves from the materiality of the pieces and produce a visual effect that, being contradictory, is shockingly revealing.

I have created most of my work with the intention that there are two ways to see it: in person or on a screen. When people who attend the exhibition see the pieces, they assume that they are flat, and that the texture is an effect of the software used. However, when you see the same pieces on a website, they immediately look like paintings with a physical texture to which pigments have been applied.

With its reflection multiplied by the mirrors on the pedestals and the wall sections that house the works, the courtyard of Ca’n Vivot, which once served as an interface between public and private life, is once again transformed into a meeting point between two realities. -Pau Waelder

LA BIBI Gallery
Carrer de Pomar, 4,
Nave 3,
07010 Palma, Islas Baleares

Palacio Can Vivot
Carrer de Can Savellà,
07001 Palma, Illes Balears
https://canvivot.es/