Martin Mlecko was born in 1951 in Essen and passed away in 2016 in Berlin, Germany. He was an investigative artist working in a range of media, continually seeking the inherent beauty in objects and his subjects. He was both a traveler and observer, sometimes also a seeker. His photographic oeuvre is a collection of series without itself being serial in structure. Among his art forms are large-format arrangements and small-scale documentation, both representational and abstract. His photographs were shown not so much as observations of reality, but rather as expressions of moods. Mlecko traveled extensively and often found inspiration in his surroundings be it on a container freight ship in the middle of the ocean or the streets of Paris. He was inspired by the people around him and conversations or chance encounters often triggered the start of new work.
Mlecko’s work with found objects and his choice to exhibit his work in unconventional spaces such as a neighborhood pub in Berlin or the white-tiled changing room of a closed mine can be attributed to his conceptual thinking. He searched for authenticity and often multiple viewpoints on a subject were represented. He was a socially conscious person who highlighted inequality by bringing it to the foreground of his work or by giving space to those underrepresented. Kay von Keitz wrote about Mlecko: “Places and atmospheres, encounters and stories are photographed, drawn and described in writing, from which he derived his visual images. He used sweeping gestures, at times including pathos, visual language in the form of parable or allegory as appropriate ways of enhancing emotional clarity.” Mlecko looked for joy in the small things, he searched for beauty and found it all around him in everyday objects.
Martin Mlecko taught staged photography at the Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weißensee. His work has been shown among others at Sammlung Hoffmann, Galerie Jule Kewenig, DE; Kunsthalle Wien, AT, Bourouina Gallery. Together with Wolfgang Schöddert, he championed the work of other artists in their project space Loge, a former porter’s lodge in Kreuzberg-Berlin.
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