Who is David Mach? : Inspiration & Discovery

Who is David Mach?

Leading contemporary artist and sculptor David Mach is the University of Dundee's first Visiting Professor of Inspiration and Discovery.

Born in Methil, Fife, David joined Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in 1974 where he experimented with many of the techniques and ideas which he has continued to develop. After graduating he was awarded a place at the Royal College of Art in London, emerging with a Masters degree in 1982. In 1998 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Arts.

Over the years he has made his mark with a hectic output and a range of major art works including the Temple of Tyre in Edinburgh, the Sumo Wrestler, the Brick Train at Darlington, the Acropolis of magazines, the Big Heids off the M8, the UK's Self Portrait - an epic collage, commissioned for the Millennium Dome - a representation of the first moonwalk in wire coat hangers and many more. A pair of Mach collages on a football theme currently feature centre space in Edinburgh's new and highly acclaimed Weston Link, joining the Royal Scottish Academy and the National Gallery of Scotland.

Multiple mass produced objects are standard raw sculpture material for Mach and he has drawn on an unlikely range including magazines, match heads, tyres, bricks and scrap cars. The source material for his ideas can be equally unexpected - his design for a bridge for example emerged from looking at a hair curler.

Mach has enormous passion, energy and a refreshingly modest approach to his work and is not afraid to court controversy. As a teacher he is inspirational.

David Mach: "This is going to be an incredible source of inspiration and discovery for me. The Life Sciences at the University of Dundee are so exciting I am sure I will be exposed to an unimaginable range of visuals and ideas. What luck to be involved in such a project."