Gosia Machon: The World Would Be Nothing

June 8 - July 5, 2023
  • "For I was once already boy and girl,
    Thicket and bird, and mute fish in the waves."
     
    - Empedocles (460 b.c.), On Nature, fragment 117
  • In my paintings, I invent fictional places and beings - places of complete wilderness where humans are not present. I try to represent the (non-human-) beings — plant, animal, landscape — as equal counterparts. Personalities without human attributes. They are here, as am I. Probably with very similar sensations, needs, and fears. With a wisdom older than my thinking mind. 

     

    Without them… the world would be nothing.

     

    Within me is a deep desire to say good-bye to the outdated image of humans, so other living beings on this planet can be given more value.

     

    Besides my humility and reverence towards their superior intelligence, their wild instinct and their absolute innocence, there is this great amazement — I am astonished by their otherness; the mysterious, ghostly, and sacred.... 

     

    When I speak of nature or wilderness, I don't mean only nature "out there". I also think of the nature within ourselves, in us human-beings. This elemental, wild part of our identity — our body, our psyche, our destiny, which is found under the gauzy crust of our civilization, and which decisively determines all our lives.

     
    - Gosia Machon
  • Portrait of the artist in front of Heimweh (homesickness), an installation from her solo-exhibition at Lyra-Raum in Hamburg 2022.
    Portrait of the artist in front of Heimweh (homesickness), an installation from her solo-exhibition at Lyra-Raum in Hamburg 2022.
  • Gosia Machon I do it again, 2022 ink on paper 7 1/2 x 11 in / 19 x 28 cm

    Gosia Machon

    I do it again, 2022

    ink on paper

    7 1/2 x 11 in / 19 x 28 cm

  • Gosia Machon Stranger than beauty, 2023 ink on paper 15 3/4 x 11 3/4 in / 40 x 30 cm

    Gosia Machon

    Stranger than beauty, 2023

    ink on paper

    15 3/4 x 11 3/4 in / 40 x 30 cm

  • Gosia Machon in her Hamburg studio; photo by David Fischer Baglietto.
    • Gosia Machon My kind, 2022 ink and gouache on paper 25 1/2 x 19 3/4 in 65 x 50 cm
      Gosia Machon
      My kind, 2022
      ink and gouache on paper
      25 1/2 x 19 3/4 in
      65 x 50 cm
    • Gosia Machon Romance, 2023 ink on paper 15 3/4 x 11 3/4 in 40 x 30 cm
      Gosia Machon
      Romance, 2023
      ink on paper
      15 3/4 x 11 3/4 in
      40 x 30 cm
    • Gosia Machon In me, 2023 ink on paper 11 3/4 x 8 1/4 in 30 x 21 cm
      Gosia Machon
      In me, 2023
      ink on paper
      11 3/4 x 8 1/4 in
      30 x 21 cm
    • Gosia Machon The Moose, 2022 ink on paper 12 1/2 x 9 1/2 in 32 x 24 cm
      Gosia Machon
      The Moose, 2022
      ink on paper
      12 1/2 x 9 1/2 in
      32 x 24 cm
    • Gosia Machon Mothhead, 2023 ink on paper 11 1/2 x 12 1/2 in 29.2 x 31.8 cm
      Gosia Machon
      Mothhead, 2023
      ink on paper
      11 1/2 x 12 1/2 in
      29.2 x 31.8 cm
    • Gosia Machon She, 2022 ink and gouache on paper 25 1/2 x 19 3/4 in 65 x 50 cm
      Gosia Machon
      She, 2022
      ink and gouache on paper
      25 1/2 x 19 3/4 in
      65 x 50 cm
    • Gosia Machon Are you real, 2023 ink on paper 15 3/4 x 11 3/4 in 40 x 30 cm
      Gosia Machon
      Are you real, 2023
      ink on paper
      15 3/4 x 11 3/4 in
      40 x 30 cm
    • Gosia Machon About You, 2023 ink on paper 39 1/4 x 27 1/2 in 100 x 70 cm
      Gosia Machon
      About You, 2023
      ink on paper
      39 1/4 x 27 1/2 in
      100 x 70 cm
    • Gosia Machon Portrait, 2023 ink on paper 15 3/4 x 11 1/2 in 40 x 29 cm
      Gosia Machon
      Portrait, 2023
      ink on paper
      15 3/4 x 11 1/2 in
      40 x 29 cm
    • Gosia Machon Golden choir, 2023 ink on paper 12 1/2 x 9 1/2 in 32 x 24 cm
      Gosia Machon
      Golden choir, 2023
      ink on paper
      12 1/2 x 9 1/2 in
      32 x 24 cm
    • Gosia Machon The world would be nothing, 2023 ink on paper 15 3/4 x 11 3/4 in 40 x 30 cm
      Gosia Machon
      The world would be nothing, 2023
      ink on paper
      15 3/4 x 11 3/4 in
      40 x 30 cm
    • Gosia Machon Kinship, 2023 ink on paper 39 1/4 x 27 1/2 in 100 x 70 cm
      Gosia Machon
      Kinship, 2023
      ink on paper
      39 1/4 x 27 1/2 in
      100 x 70 cm
    • Gosia Machon Warm sentiments, 2023 ink on paper 16 1/2 x 11 3/4 in 42 x 30 cm
      Gosia Machon
      Warm sentiments, 2023
      ink on paper
      16 1/2 x 11 3/4 in
      42 x 30 cm
  • Gosia Machon If not now whenever, 2023 ink on paper 19 3/4 x 27 1/2 in / 50 x 70...

    Gosia Machon

    If not now whenever, 2023
    ink on paper
    19 3/4 x 27 1/2 in / 50 x 70 cm

  • I never represent concrete places or people, not the external reality...

    I draw from subconscious, inner sources and images. The area that cannot be photographed, and can hardly be described in words. This swan, this tree, this flower - I have not seen them anywhere with my eyes, but the sensation they express, it exists, it is real.

     
    Every time anew I find it almost unbelievable that this is possible: to represent something that is actually invisible – sensations, moods, emotions, conditions, confusions: The reality beneath the visual surfaces that continually influence our perception of the world.
     
    Sometimes I have the impression that a painting is like a stage for the protagonists of our psyche. Everything we experience — physically, emotionally and mentally — can be a performer on this picture-stage. By this I don't just mean the figures - everything is equally important in the picture and can speak to us; a plant, an unknown entity, a color. There is no hierarchy between the elements, there is no gender. In the painting we can find ourselves in every element. 
     
    It is an incessant play with our own abysmality. With abysmality I do not mean anything dark or somber. I mean the deep and strange stalactite caves within ourselves, the microcosm of our spirit, our psyche. There, everything is possible. There I can be anything: a breath of air, a donkey, a puddle. There I find the happiness, the joy and the sense of diving deeper and deeper into the unfathomable magnificent colorful lake of the unknown.
     
    It is the processual acceptance of our reality, which is full of unknowing, contradictions, mysteries and oddities, that it is to be observed and admired, but in no case unraveled or understood.
     
    - Gosia Machon
     
    • Gosia Machon Love is love, 2023 ink on paper 25 1/2 x 19 3/4 in 65 x 50 cm
      Gosia Machon
      Love is love, 2023
      ink on paper
      25 1/2 x 19 3/4 in
      65 x 50 cm
    • Gosia Machon Trying my best, 2023 ink on paper 19 3/4 x 15 3/4 in 50 x 40 cm
      Gosia Machon
      Trying my best, 2023
      ink on paper
      19 3/4 x 15 3/4 in
      50 x 40 cm
    • Gosia Machon Leaving Home, 2022 ink on paper 11 x 7 in 28 x 18 cm
      Gosia Machon
      Leaving Home, 2022
      ink on paper
      11 x 7 in
      28 x 18 cm
    • Gosia Machon Frightened child, 2022 ink on paper 7 1/2 x 11 in 19 x 28 cm
      Gosia Machon
      Frightened child, 2022
      ink on paper
      7 1/2 x 11 in
      19 x 28 cm
    • Gosia Machon Everyday, 2023 ink on paper 12 1/2 x 9 1/2 in 32 x 24 cm
      Gosia Machon
      Everyday, 2023
      ink on paper
      12 1/2 x 9 1/2 in
      32 x 24 cm
    • Gosia Machon Silence, 2022 ink on paper 11 x 7 3/4 in 28 x 20 cm
      Gosia Machon
      Silence, 2022
      ink on paper
      11 x 7 3/4 in
      28 x 20 cm
    • Gosia Machon Simple pleasures, 2023 ink on paper 12 1/2 x 9 1/2 in 32 x 24 cm
      Gosia Machon
      Simple pleasures, 2023
      ink on paper
      12 1/2 x 9 1/2 in
      32 x 24 cm
    • Gosia Machon The dreams, 2023 ink on paper 12 1/2 x 9 1/2 in 32 x 24 cm
      Gosia Machon
      The dreams, 2023
      ink on paper
      12 1/2 x 9 1/2 in
      32 x 24 cm
    • Gosia Machon Blurred memory, 2022 ink on paper 25 1/2 x 19 3/4 in 65 x 50 cm
      Gosia Machon
      Blurred memory, 2022
      ink on paper
      25 1/2 x 19 3/4 in
      65 x 50 cm
  •  

     

  • Gosia Machon, In Me, 2023

    Gosia Machon

    In Me, 2023
    Giclée print on Hahnemühle Wiliam Turner 300 gm paper
    15 3/4 x 11 3/4 in
    40 x 30 cm
    Limited Edition of 10, numbered and signed by the artist
    $ 180.00
  • GOSIA MACHON Born 1979, Poland Lives and works Hamburg, Germany Gosia Machon's figurative abstract paintings and drawings are created with...

    The artist in her Hamburg studio

    Photo by David Fischer Baglietto

    GOSIA MACHON

    Born 1979, Poland
    Lives and works Hamburg, Germany
     
    Gosia Machon's figurative abstract paintings and drawings are created with intuitive processes and are driven by an inner archive. Her work draws from unconscious, autobiographical and collective experiences and memories. It repeatedly revolves around the longing for untouched nature. This nature can be a biotope or a plant, and refers equally to the unfathomable meanders of our human psyche and body – the piece of wilderness within ourselves.
     
    Machon graduated from HAW Hamburg (Department Design) in 2008. She has since exhibited her work and projects internationally at galleries and art institutions in Berlin, Paris, Antwerp, Warsaw, Istanbul, Vienna, Tel Aviv, and Kyoto. Her recent exhibitions include Nominees at Kunsthaus, Hamburg 2023; A room for ones own at Clint Roehnisch Gallery, Toronto, 2022; Lieb Lieb Leid Lied at HilbertRaum, Berlin, 2021; and Durch das Getümmel at Kunstverein Ellwangen, 2020.
     
    She is a lecturer for drawing and painting at German art schools, including HAW Hamburg and Burg Giebichtenstein Kunstchochschule Halle; and the recipient of art awards and grants, most recently the Hamburg Grant for Contemporary Art, Ministry of Culture and Media 2023; and the Heitland Honneur Celle 2023.