Since completing his MA at the Royal College, London, in 1982, Mach has lived and worked in London. He has worked extensively in many different countries and his work is in many collections, both private and public. He is a Royal Academician, an Honorary Royal Scottish Academician, a Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery and Professor of Inspiration and Discovery at Dundee University.
Mach has used everyday, recognisable, mass-produced objects in multiples, notably newspapers, magazines, car tyres, matches, wire coathangers and postcards throughout his career. He brings diverse items together, from large-scale installations to small, identifiable faces or figures with humour and social comment.
“Scotland seems to do this thing, we have characters in our history and in our lives who are huge and kind of loom over us, Burns is one of them, like Billy Connolly except not so funny. I am always in two minds about Burns, I sympathise with his politics, but he was a tax man. In fact I feel he is probably more relevant today than he has ever been. I think we ask more questions today about ourselves, who we are, class distinctions, what we expect, and so on. Being Scottish always gets more complicated because of our love affair with guilt and the terrible risk we run of maybe getting above ourselves. Burns is still a cruel reminder of these things.”
David Mach
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