Born in 1982, Melbourne, Australia.

Michael Staniak is an Australian artist whose practice navigates the space between the digital and the physical. Holding a Master of Fine Art from the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne, Staniak creates textured paintings that echo the aesthetics of screen-based culture while grounding his process in traditional studio techniques. His works—often mistaken for digital prints—are in fact made through labor-intensive layering of materials such as plaster, pigment, and acrylic, resulting in surfaces that recall cosmic topographies, geological formations, and distorted digital landscapes.

Staniak’s work is frequently associated with Post-Internet Art, yet his references extend beyond the online realm to include photography pioneers such as Edgar Degas and the material experiments of artists like Wade Guyton. His paintings are part of institutional collections including the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis and the Kunsthalle Wien, and he has exhibited at Steve Turner (Los Angeles), Station Gallery (Sydney and Melbourne), and The Unit London, among others.

His work reflects a deep interest in the impact of technology on perception, memory, and image-making. Through material presence and conceptual detachment, Staniak questions the role of the screen in mediating experience, inviting the viewer into a territory where the virtual and the tactile coexist.