Works by Macha Poynder
Macha Poynder is a Russian-born, Paris-based artist whose multi-disciplinary oeuvre is inspired by the philosophies and aesthetic principles of Abstract Expressionism.
Education
Poynder moved permanently from Moscow to Paris in 1982. In 1983, she studied at the Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts and in 1986 earned her degree from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs.
Technique
Though Poynder works in many mediums, including painting, drawing, photography, film, and performance, the heart of her practice has always been drawing and painting.
Her method emphasizes gesture, line, color, and space. Physicality and action are key to her technique.
To create her drawings and paintings she expands on the methods of the Abstract Expressionists, blending automatic drawing, performative gestures, and intuitive color choices to express the depths of her unconscious.
She works with multiple layers and colors, creating works that are defined by their complexity and depth. Her textured and painterly surfaces blend areas of apparent randomness where the paint has been splashed or dripped with areas of precision, where the paint has been applied with a deliberate, trained hand.
Inspiration
Poynder likens her painting process to the creation of music. She considers colors to be sounds, which can form the visual equivalent of chords when placed together in a composition. She seeks rhythm in her compositions, and strives to create a sense of structure.
When she first discovered the work of the Abstract Expressionists like Cy Twombly, Joan Mitchell, and Willem de Kooning, she found a kindred spirit in herself.
She is inspired by the emotive and performative aspect of how those artists worked. She paints sometimes as if she is dancing, with her lines recording the trajectory of her body and her mind.
Most importantly, she is inspired by the quest to forget what she knows, so she can become liberated from her own rules, and let intuition and instinct guide her while she paints.
Artist Statement
“I am arriving at a point, a threshold, where accumulated knowledge finally leaves, liberated from its control and domination. It turns into pure perception, when the link with the invisible, the unknown, and the infinite becomes clear. The painting can finally spring from its own source. Many things thus become possible. The broadening of perception causes the visual field to broaden, so the territory of a painting grows larger. And so on and so on, like a spiral with no end. Painting is one of the instruments for penetrating the mysteries of the world. Canvas, paper, surface are all windows where the visible and the invisible touch, come together, where the mystery is half open, and where the invisible is revealed.”
Exhibitions
Poynder has exhibited internationally. Recent solo exhibitions include Buci Gallery, Paris, T1 + 2 Gallery, London, and Modernism, San Francisco
Collections
Her work is in the permanent collections of the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the New York Public Library, and the Rijksmuseum, among others.
Selected One Person Exhibitions
2017
Recent Works, Jean et Danièle Attali, Paris
2016
Le bel aujourd’hui, Villa Seurat, Paris
2015
To Paint Is To Love Again, Galerie de Buci, Paris
2012
Night Paintings, Erco, 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