David Mach HRSA was born in Methil, Fife, in 1956. He attended Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee, where he specialised in sculpture. After his postgraduate degree, Mach won a scholarship to study in Warsaw. However, the political situation in Poland at the time meant that he was unable to take up his place and he was instead invited to undertake an MA at the Royal College of Art, London.
His first solo exhibition was held at the Lisson Gallery, London, in 1982. From 1982 to 1986 he was a part-time lecturer in the School of Sculpture, Kingston University, and from 1987 to 1991 he lectured at the Contemporary Art Summer School, Kikakyushu, Japan. In 1988 he was nominated for the Turner Prize before going on to win Glasgow's Lord Provost Prize in 1992. Having been elected a Royal Academician in 1998, Mach would be appointed Professor of Sculpture at the Royal Academy Schools, London, in 2000. He was elected an Honorary Member of the Royal Scottish Academy in 2004. The same year, he was appointed Professor of Inspiration and Discovery at the University of Dundee. Mach has undertaken many major public commissions through his career, including the tumbling telephone boxes of Out of Order (1989) in Kingston and Big Heids (1999), visible from the M8 between Glasgow and Edinburgh. Mach has had numerous major international exhibitions and his work is held in significant collections around the world. He lives and works in London.
