Absolution of the Allies, 2018. Acrylic and pastel on canvas, 160 x 148 cm | 63 x 58 1/8 in
About mp /
Began drawing and painting in Moscow, when I was six. Then came Paris, paintings and artist’s books. Later, New York opened up for me, unfolded my space, freed the line, the gesture, its writing, its dance. I finally found my family, abstract expressionism. My painting continued to become more fluid, ample, and to liberate itself and approach its own source, making tradition and the know-how recede year after year. I have forgotten more and more. Today I have made my quantum leap into working with light. Cleared from the materiality, from the weight of oils and canvas, my night paintings capture the intangible, as well as the movement of the ‘danced’ body and make it visible. My light movie (no end drawings in motion) on 35mm film is coming as well. With Kirk Hellie, I am working on performances with night paintings/light movie, as well as with a choreographer, dancers, and a singer . A new element came into my work – space. I am deeply interested by working with unusual spaces, indoor or outdoor, to reveal their hidden structure, presence, voice, character. My passion is to continue to create total installations where the visual, sound and spatial appeals meet and interact, where one enters and immerse into the picture, movie, music, and to offer to the audience an unprecented experience of an expanded perception, a magic journey.
Solo and group exhibitions in New York (La Boétie, Inc.), San Francisco (Modernism, Inc.), Paris, London, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, Biennale de Lyon, etc. Eleven artist’s books.
Collaborations with Chanel, Kenzo, Lacroix, Hermès.
Public collections (Paris, Amsterdam, Sans Francisco, New York, Netherlands, Germany), private collections (France, Germany, Belgium, Great Britain, Italy, Russia, United States).
A more personal P.S. >
I cannot live without painting and drawing, with bamboo, pencil, brushes, light (maglite), whatever. It is my oxygen, my response to the world. When I paint I am alive. Regardless of the questions or problems in the outer world, when I paint, everything takes its rightful place. It is a state of grace for me. I should add that when I draw I write, and when I write I draw.
I cannot live without the feeling that the world comes into you, you breathe with the world - there is no separation between the world and you. That is exactly what I feel and experience when I paint and draw. I also love the feeling of being expanded throught the world - Russia, France, and the US are my axes. I need to feel myself expanded - as mist, as a myriad of water spots, in many places, in many countries at the same time.
MACHA POYNDER / SELECTED CHRONOLOGY Born in Moscow, 1962. Lived in Paris from 1974 to 1977 and since 1982. 1969-1981 : Drawing and painting classes with M. Illarionova, D. Doubrovin, P. Belvès, I. Zakharova and K. Mordovin (Moscow -Paris-Moscow). 1982 : Atelier Leconte. 1983 : Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts. 1982-1986 : Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts-Décoratifs. PERFORMANCES / INSTALLATIONS 2013 4 hands | m2, with Isabelle de Voldère, Clamecy, Burgundy 2012 Night Paintings/Light Movie/Random Wind, with Kirk Hellie, Nuit Blanche, Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris ONE PERSON EXHIBITIONS 2019-2020 Le monde n’offre à voir qu’une infime partie de lui-même, Institut Bruno Lussato, Brussels 2017 Recent Works, Jean et Danièle Attali, Paris 2016 Le bel aujourd'hui, Villa Seurat, #19E, Paris 2015 To Paint is to Love Again, Galerie de Buci, Paris 2010 Lemon Geisha Conversation, T1+2 Gallery, London 2004 Shopping Bags, Modernism, San Francisco 2003 Shopping Bags, Franck et Fils, Paris 2000 Modernism, San Francisco 1994 Galerie François Mitaine, Paris Works on Paper, Sixth Annual Fair, La Boétie, Inc. & MJS, New York 1993 Personal Effects, La Boétie, Inc., New York 1993 Galerie J. & J. Donguy, Paris 1991 Monique Contencin, Paris 1990 Yaoundé, Cameroon, West Africa SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2013 B.A.B.E. /The Best Artists' Books and Editors/, Galerie Immanence, Paris 2010 Galerie Drouart, Paris Born In The USSR, Made In France, Espace des Blancs-Manteaux, Paris 2007 Art Chicago, Modernism, Chicago 2006 Art Chicago, Modernism, Chicago 2005 Galerie Valérie Gérablié, Paris 2004 San Francisco International Art Exposition, Modernism, San Francisco 2003-2004 Recent Acquisitions of Contemporary Works on Paper, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco 2003 Hidden Typography, St Bride Library, London 2002 San Francisco International Art Exposition, Modernism, San Francisco Art Chicago, Modernism, Chicago 2001 Art Chicago, Modernism, Chicago 2000 San Francisco International Art Exposition, Modernism, San Francisco 1999 San Francisco International Art Exposition, Modernism, San Francisco 1998 Galerie W, Paris 1997 Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire, Paris 1995 Works on Paper, Seventh Annual Fair, La Boétie, Inc. & MJS, New York 1994 Chez l’un l’autre, Paris 1993 Works on Paper, Fifth Annual Fair, La Boétie, Inc. & MJS, New York Biennale de Lyon, And They All Do Change the World, Lyon 1988 Downey Museum of Art, Los Angeles Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, Hangzhou, China Cambridge Multicultural Art Center, Boston 1986 Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris Frankfurt Bookfair, Frankfurt 1984 Salon des Indépendants, Paris 1974 My Moscow, Moscow ARTISTS' BOOKS Une nuit à Yaoundé, with Jean-Luc Adde. Photography, inks, typed text/collages. Paris-Los Angeles, JLM Gallery, Inc., 2014. 2006 ou les roses du bonheur. Gouaches, coloured pencils, rubber stamps. Paris, Mouvement Art Libre, 2006. Aller-simple. Collages, pastels, handwritten and typed text. Paris-New York, Mouvement Art Libre & MJS, 1997. Le Cœur à gaz by Tristan Tzara . Gouache stencils, rubber stamps. Paris, Mouvement Art Libre, 1995. Poèmes nègres, after the « poèmes nègres » adapted by Tristan Tzara. Collages, gouaches, typography. Paris-New York, Mouvement Art Libre, Transédition & MJS, 1993. #19E, with Marc Dachy. Pastels. New York, 1991. Afrique. Gouache stencils, typography, collages. Paris, Mouvement Art Libre, 1990. La Punaise, after Vladimir Mayakovsky. Woodcuts. Paris, 1985. BOOKS Contes de fées. 16 poèmes enfantins, by e.e.cummings. Gouaches. Sauve, Clémence Hiver Editeur, 2002. La Gemella buona e la gemella cattiva, by Rosanna Campo. Gouaches. Milano, Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Editore, 2000. Comment ça va?, by Vladimir Mayakovsky. Woodcuts. Paris, Clémence Hiver Editeur, 1988. La Punaise, by Vladimir Mayakovsky. Woodcuts. Offset of original prints. Paris, ILM, 1985. COLLABORATIONS Chanel (2002), Agnès B. (2002), Kenzo (2003), Hermès (2004) SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (Logan’s Collection), USA Frankfurt Stadt Bibliothek, Germany Gutenberg Museum, Mainz, Germany Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, Netherlands Herzog Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel, Germany Klingspor Museum, Offenbach, Germany Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France New York Public Library, USA Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands PRESS Art Press, Galeries Magazine, Libération, Le Figaro, Le Monde, Le Nouvel Observateur, L’Infini, Elle, Cosmopolitan, Actuel, L’Autre Journal, Le Jour, Digraphe, « Femmes & Art au XXe siècle : Le temps des défis », Epok, Le Matin, L’Echoppe, 7 à Paris, Jornal da Tarde, (São Paulo), Le Bulletin du Bibliophile, La Part du livre, Lire Magazine, France Graphique, Livres-Hebdo, L’Oggetto Libro (Milano), Joyce Japan, Joong-Ang Daily News (Taïwan), Artima Taiwan Art Magazine, Pulse-UK, Boston Globe (London), Jornal da Tarde (São Paulo), La Repubblica (Roma), Corriere Adriatico (Italy), Il Giornale di Vicenza (Italy), Liberta (Italy), L’Arena (Italy), Corriere Adriatico (Italy), Gazetta del Sud (Italy), La Sicilia (Italy), Mezzanine (Moscow), Desillusionist (Moscow), Textilnaya Industria (Moscow), Lilit (Riga), Gallery SPB (Saint-Petersbourg), La Pensée Russe, La Nouvelle Parole Russe (New York)