Staniak’s work concentrates on the changing images in the digital culture and it is process-oriented. It oscillates between flat digital imagery and texturized analog painting.

Michael Staniak earned a BFA and an MFA from the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne as well as a BA from Middle Tennessee State University. The aesthetics behind Staniak’s works is soft and delicate, but it nevertheless keeps the viewer’s eye stimulated because of the variety of subtle changes in acrylic colors and textures. Even though Michael Staniak creates his paintings by hand, they resemble flat digital prints - we have to view his works up close in order to perceive minute textures and the sense of depth. However, some of his paintings use digital processes and in this way establish the dialogue between analog acrylic work and digital modes of production. The artist’s works explore an entirely new direction in painting which is strongly influenced by current technologies, such as touch pads, smart phones, personal computers and of course the omnipresent Internet.

Even though Michael Staniak is interested in creating paintings by hand, they resemble flat prints made by digital artists.

Michael Staniak’s  work has been included in numerous group exhibitions as well, such as the Moving Museum’s Istanbul project and Kunsthalle Wien in Vienna, Austria. His international reputation started to grow after his solo exhibition in 2014, entitled Image DNA and held at Steve Turner Contemporary in Los Angeles, USA. Staniak’s new works have been included in group shows at Horton Gallery and Charles Bank in New York and he received the Artstart Grant in 2013 in his home country. Besides receiving this prestigious grant and working in Los Angeles, Staniak was the winner of many prizes as well, such as the Stirling Group Award in 2009, the Acacia Award in 2007 and 2010 Art Award.

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Solo Exhibitions

 

2020 Natural Order, The Unit London, Mayfair

2019 Michael Staniak - Gander / September 2019, curated by Sarah Belden, Arts and Cultural Centre of Newfoundland, Gander; Michael Staniak - Melbourne / July 2019, STATION, Melbourne; Michael Staniak - Kitzbuhel / February 2019, Galerie Clemens Gunzer, Kitzbuhel

2018 True Nature, Achenbach Hagemier, Dusseldorf ; Fictions, (dual solo exhibition with Richard Dupont curated by Domenico de Chirico), Eduardo Secci Contemporary, Florence

2017 From Memory, Steve Turner, Los Angeles; Guidance, STATION, Melbourne

2016 Anytime Anywhere, Steve Turner, Los Angeles

2015 New Surface, NKN Gallery, Melbourne; Solid State, Steve Turner, Los Angeles; IMG_, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, St. Louis; Permanent Display, Annarumma Gallery, Naples

2014 Data loss, NKN Gallery, Melbourne; Slow Pictures, Artereal Gallery, Sydney;
Internet Blueprints, Art Brussels with Steve Turner Contemporary, Brussels; Image DNA, Steve Turner Contemporary, Los Angeles

2013 Standard Output, Block Projects, Melbourne; Instapaint, Paradise Hills, Melbourne

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Group Exhibitions

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2022 Rarity Gallery Group Show , Greece

2019 UNTITLED Miami Beach with Eduardo Secci, Miami; Beyond Borders, The Unit London, Mayfair; Flat Earth Society, Cement Fondu, Sydney; Pleasure Plants, STATION, Sydney; Vienna Contemporary with Clemens Wolf and Peter Jellitsch, Galerie Clemens Gunzer, Vienna; Expo Chicago with Eduardo Secci, Chicago; The Abstract Cabinet, curated by Friederike Nymphius, Eduardo Secci Contemporary, Florence; Haven’t we met before?, organised by Kevin Harman and Steven Cox, A-M-G5, Glasgow; Nice to meet you, organised by Kevin Harman and Steven Cox, Ltd Ink Corporation, Edinburgh; Dallas Art Fair with Eduardo Secci Contemporary, Dallas; One Night Only presented by Hunted Projects, Edinburgh; Zona Maco with Eduardo Secci Contemporary, Mexico City; UNTITLED San Francisco with Eduardo Secci Contemporary, San Fransisco

2018 UNTITLED Miami Beach with Eduardo Secci Contemporary, Miami; Kunst und Baum, Baumschule Schmitz, Kaarst; Vis-A-Vis, Pearl Lam Galleries, Hong Kong; Expo Chicago, with Eduardo Secci Contemporary, Chicago; Contemporary Istanbul, with Eduardo Secci Contemporary, Istanbul; Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Collector’s Depot, Portschach im Worthersee; Looking For U, The Unit London, Mayfair; Strenuous, Castor Gallery, New York; Double Vision, Steve Turner, Los Angeles; Art Dallas, with Eduardo Secci Contemporary, Dallas; Station Sydney, Sydney; Zona Maco with Eduardo Secci Contemporary, Mexico City

2017 Homeostase, Centro Cultural Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo; Summer Sun, The Journal Gallery, Brooklyn; Nothing You Have To Understand, organised by Kristian Touborg, Galerie Mikael Andersen, Copenhagen; Art Brussels with Steve Turner, Brussels; Evolutionary Urge: 24h Sculpture, curated by Ursula Stroebele and Andreas Greiner, NAVEL, Los Angeles; Extracting/Abstracting, Steve Turner, Los Angeles

2016 UNTITLED Miami Beach with Steve Turner LA, Miami; Antiques Roadshow, curated by Mark Feary, Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne; CODE with Steve Turner, Copenhagen; Seattle Art Fair with Steve Turner, Seattle; Dallas Art Fair with Steve Turner, Dallas; Face-to-Face, Palazzo Fruscione Salerno, Salerno

2015 I Was Once Lonelyness, Blain Southern, Berlin; UNTITLED Miami Beach with Steve Turner, Miami; Expo Chicago with Steve Turner, Chicago; Extraction, Steve Turner, Los Angeles; MiArt with Steve Turner, Milan; The Future of Memory, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna

2014 Refraction: The Image of Sense, Blain Southern, London; UNTITLED Miami Beach with Steve Turner, Miami; The Moving Museum, Istanbul; Blue Times, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna; Art Bogota with Steve Turner, Bogota; Bien Ou Bien?, Moncheri, Brussels; The Salon is a Living Room, Fanny, Berta, Vienna; Zona Maco with Steve Turner, Mexico City; Dashboard, Kalpany, Milan

2013 Merge Visible, Horton Gallery, New York; UNTITLED Miami Beach with Steve Turner, Miami; #Pseudoreal, Judith Charles Gallery, New York; Sydney Contemporary 13, Sydney; Ctrl Paste, New Low, Melbourne; Everything At Once, Paradise Hills, Melbourne

2012 Polarspace.org, Online Exhibition, Melbourne, New York; Primal Mutation, Northern Territory Centre for Contemporary Art, Darwin