David Macho

Santander, Spain, 1994

Nunca he trabajado en una oficina - 2025. Oil on paper. 40.5 x 30.5 cm (framed).

Recuerdo de la primera vez que fui al Guggenheim - 2025. Oil on paper. 40.5 x 30.5 cm (framed).

Primero fueron pacíficos y tímidos, pero rápidamente escaló hasta la violencia" "Lo que aprendí fue que si dejas la desicion al público, pueden matarte. - 2024. Oil on paper. 44.5 x 44.5 cm (framed).

You Can't Buy These Works But This Painting - 2024. Oil on paper. 44.5 x 44.5 cm (framed).

Expressarte_:el arte es lo que dejas salir. A.W - 2022-2023. Oil on canvas. 71,5 x 60,5 cm.

Estudio de Eva Lootz - 2024. Oil on paper. 7 x 9.5 cm (unframed). 40.5 x 30.5 x 3 cm (framed).

Estudio de David Hockney - 2024. Oil on paper. 9 x 12.5 cm (unframed). 40.5 x 30.5 x 3 cm (framed).

Estudio de Alexander Calder - 2024. Oil on paper. 7 x 10 cm (unframed). 40.5 x 30.5 x 3 cm (framed).

Estudio de Jean-Michel Basquiat -2024. Oil on paper. 7 x 7 cm (unframed). 40.5 x 30.5 x 3 cm (framed).

About

Lives and works in Barcelona, Spain

David Macho’s work unfolds as a critical and poetic inquiry into the systems that shape artistic production. His concept of bureaucratic plasticity becomes a lens through which he examines how institutional frameworks such as grants, academia and cultural policy, mold not only the artist’s path but also the very aesthetics of art. His practice raises urgent questions: What do we legitimize as art? Who defines its value? How does visibility operate in a world saturated with images and opinions? Macho treats the canvas or paper not as a nostalgic medium but as a site of symbolic confrontation, frequently playing with the boundaries of morality exposing the absurdity of human thought. His compositions are vibrant, layered, and often surreal: populated by cultural icons like the living room from The Simpsons, Carrie and Big falling into the lake in Central Park, watched by the characters from Friends, or giving insights of famous artist’s studios, such as Eva Lootz, Joan Miró or David Hockney. These scenes, drawn from collective memory and media fiction, are reimagined as visual myths, images that never existed, yet feel deeply familiar. His use of colour is bold and synthetic, echoing the glow of screens and the rhythm of channel-surfing. Through this visual language, he explores themes of memory, myth, and the absurdity of cultural consumption. In his works irony, critique, and humour become tools of resistance.

David Macho lives and works in Barcelona. He holds a degree in Fine Arts from the University of the Basque Country and he later specialized in art and design research at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. After an early career shaped by institutional grants and academic collaborations, he made a decisive break in 2019 to pursue a more independent path. Since then, he has exhibited his works national and internationally in solo and group shows and developed personal projects and received commissions from prominent cultural figures, whom he playfully refers to as his “contemporary court.” His clients include Neil Harbisson, Luis Venegas, Paloma Wool, Rigoberta Bandini, Stacy Wall, and Rosalía. One of his most notable collaborations was an international campaign for Gucci, where he worked alongside artists from around the world.

Download CV

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
T-10 Project, Alzueta Gallery, Barcelona, Spain (2024)
Como pollo sin cabeza, Alzueta Gallery, Barcelona, Spain (2023)
La Terre est bleue comme une orange, Alzueta Gallery, Barcelona, Spain (2023)
The artist, Centre LGTBI, Barcelona, Spain (2020)
Manipulating Divisions of joy, Haimney Gallery, Barcelona, Spain (2019)
AFRT. Take Off, AFRT, Barcelona, Spain (2019)
Navegando por la red, navegando en internet, navegando yo, me enamoré, TKM ROOM, Barcelona, Spain (2019)
Todos los artistas molan más que yo, Galería Miscelanea, Madrid, Spain (2019)
Sobremesa, Sala Amadís Injuve, Madrid, Spain (2018)
Muchedumbre, CC. Guinardó, Barcelona, Spain (2018)
Acción x2m2 E.P.A. Actuación extraña en la que aplaudes sin entender, La Juan Gallery, Madrid, Spain (2018)
Botellón, Espai Barra de Ferro, Barcelona, Spain (2017)

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
They say, Candy Darling, Barcelona, Spain (2019)
Resilencia & Estamina, Bizkaia Aretoa, Bizkaia, Spain (2018)
Autogestión cerda, MACBA, Barcelona, Spain (2018)
XIV Premio José María Vidal, Fundació Arena LGTBIQ, Barcelona, Spain (2018)
Laboratorio del ”no hacer”, Blue Project Foundation, Barcelona, Spain (2017)
Artists working, Galería Windsor, Bilbao, Spain (2016)
V Certamen de Arte, Hotel Carlton, Bilbao, Spain (2015)

ART FAIRS
UVNT ART FAIR MADRID, Alzueta Gallery, Madrid, Spain (2024)
KIAF, Alzueta Gallery, Seoul, South Korea (2022 & 2023)
ART CENTRAL HONG KONG, Alzueta Gallery, Hong Kong, China (2023)
ART MIAMI, Alzueta Gallery, Miami, USA (2022)
HYBRID ART FAIR, Galería Miscelanea, Madrid, Spain (2020 & 2018)

COLLABORATIONS
Fatiga, Mapfre KBR, Barcelona, Spain (2022)
ART &amp, Edition Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain (2022)
Think your lab, Teatro Calderon, Valladolid, Spain (2022)
Análisis de la obra de Lee Friedlander, Mapfre KBR, Barcelona, Spain (2022)
Monjas, dinero y TikTok, La hijas de Felipe (2022)
Suot, Tous (2022)
Historias para no dormir, Amazon Prime y TVE (2021)
Encuentros en 3ª fase, Playground (2021)
GUCCI, artworks for G-timeless watches promotion (2020)
Arte, investigación y feminismos, Universidad del País Vasco, Spain (2017- 2018)