(IL)LUSIO

Wei-Ling Contemporary is pleased to host ‘(IL)LUSIO’, an exhibition of new glass objects by renowned Czech artist and photographer Michal Macků. He is known for his unique photographic technique of “Gellage” (a combination of the terms gelatin and collage), a term he coined himself.

The title ‘(IL)LUSIO’ is a play on the Latin words “Illusio”, meaning “illusion”, and “lusio”, meaning “game” or “play”. This pun reflects the artist’s European roots in ancient traditional iconography and also nods to the Eastern concept of “Maya”, which views life as an illusion or game.

Since 2000, he has been expanding his scope to include historical photographic processes, gravure printing, platinography, and especially carbon printing. Since 2005, he has been stepping out of the surface of paper into the third dimension with his photographic glass objects, initially of intimate dimensions but gradually growing larger to today’s life-size abstract glass steles.

The exhibition will showcase the artist’s works, ranging from expressive black-and-white pieces to the spiritually calm and colourful works of recent years with elements of sacred geometry. It is an intriguing and fascinating look at the evolution of a body of work that replicates in its expression the personal and spiritual growth of its artist.

‘(IL)LUSIO’ opens on September 11, 2024, and runs until September 28, 2024, at Wei-Ling Contemporary, 2nd Floor Annexe, 8 Jalan Scott, Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur. The exhibition is available by appointment only. For appointments and additional information, please call +603 2260 1106 or email siewboon@weiling-gallery.com.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

MICHAL MACKŮ

Michal Macků, Czech artist (1963), graduated from the Technological Faculty of the Polytechnic Institute in Brno in 1985. After the political changes and democratisation of Czechoslovakia at the end of the 1990s, he graduated from the Institute of Fine Art Photography in Prague in 1989 and has been a freelance artist since 1991. 

At the beginning of his artistic career, he became known for his “Gellages”—large-format black and white photographic compositions. To create them, Macků developed his own method of composing images by manipulating exposed photographic emulsion (hence the name Gellage, a compound of the words collage and gelatin). He often creates these expressive compositions of mostly male nudes using his own body and a self-portrait. Gradually, at the beginning of the new millennium, he expanded his technique to include the use of historical large-format techniques, platinotype, intaglio, and especially carbon printing. Soon he also stepped out of the two-dimensional paper format into the third dimension with his glass objects. These works in glass are initially thematically based on his photographic work. Gradually, new motifs and a new colour palette emerge. From an initially expressive position, the artist moves into a more geometric and aesthetic position, reflecting his personal and spiritual growth and transformation. Art glass also has a glorious history in the Czech lands, and the artist continues this tradition.

Throughout his creative career, Michal Macků has been interested in philosophical and spiritual aspects of being, actively practising yoga and meditation. Since 2012, he has repeatedly travelled to the South American Amazon, where he has encountered the shamanic practices of the local indigenous culture. These experiences have gradually been reflected in the artist’s work, bringing in elements of natural aesthetics and sacred geometry.

Macků’s works are represented in private and public collections such as Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris; Harvard Visual Center, Cambridge; Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego; and others. Macků has also exhibited in many European and international galleries and, in recent years, has regularly appeared at contemporary art fairs such as AIPAD Show New York, MIART Milano, ARTEFIERA Bologna, Art Verona, Art Stage Singapore, and Photo London.