MICHAL MACKU

With a passion for photography that started when he was 15, Michal Macků studied in Brno and Prague before working at the Sigma Olomouc Research Centre and teaching at the Pedagogical Faculty of Palacky University, Olomouc. Since 1992, he has worked as a freelance artist, exhibiting in the US and throughout Europe. In 1989, he created his own photographic technique, ‘Gellage’ — the ligature of collage and gelatine. The technique consists of transferring the exposed and fixed photographic emulsion from its original base on paper. This transparent and plastic gelatine substance makes it possible to reshape and reform the original images. Created on photographic quality paper, each Gellage is a highly durable print eminently suited for collecting and exhibiting. Michal explains, "I use the nude human body (mostly my own) in my pictures. Through the photographic process [of Gellage], this concrete human body is compelled to meet with abstract surroundings and distortions. This connection is most exciting for me and helps me to find new levels of humanness in the resulting work." http://www.michal-macku.eu/