#occupyBMCA

2 days ago
3 min read

MA JIA & MICHAEL BLANK

11 September – 18 October 2025

We would like to sincerely thank BMCA (BlueMountainContemporaryArt) as well as Alexandra Grimmer and her team for the continued collaboration, and we are excited to be part of this project with two outstanding artists.

On Thursday, 2 October 2025, BMCA and ARTCARE invite you to a special evening to view the works of Ma Jia and Michael Blank at the BMCA warehouse. The event begins at 6:00 PM.

Please register by emailing office@bmca.art or office@artcare.at.

Born in 1981 in Jilin Province, Ma Jia, and born in 1959 in Vienna, Michael Blank, first became aware of each other’s work and quickly found a connection to one another’s artistic approach. As part of #occupyBMCA, Ma Jia’s iron works were juxtaposed with works by Michael Blank from a series developed in the 1990s around the material rubber.

The rawness of metal and the anonymity of rubber, with its dull and elusive surface, create an intriguing dialogue. For Blank, rusting metal, stainless steel, and forged knives have always played a central role. For Ma Jia, who originally studied painting, it is the surfaces—reminiscent of abstract drawings—that acquire marks and injuries through their use as gas pipes or metal plates. It is time and history that give Ma Jia’s metal objects their character. Unlike works controlled through every aesthetic possibility, the artist steps into the background as the creator of these objects. The wear, scratches, and rusted areas on the surfaces can be “read” like a drawing—intended but only partially controllable by the artist.

"This work is like a living trace from the past; it is a very raw material. The traces of scratches make the work even more beautiful," says Ma Jia.

Michael Blank cuts matte black rubber sheets into thin strips and knots them into objects. In some cases, he incorporates razor-sharp blades, commanding an added respect from the viewer. Another series, His Mounted Shadows, depicts the artist’s silhouette in various assemblies, resulting in compact forms that can no longer be visually traced back to the artist’s body.

What connects the two artists is their attitude toward their materials, which they treat with care, as well as a minimalist to ascetic approach in handling them. Beyond the three-dimensional objects, a current work by Ma Jia—a painting over four meters long composed of countless suggested strokes—is juxtaposed with a group of Blank’s ink drawings from 2024.

Ma Jia’s metal works are presented courtesy of ARTCARE.

Text by Alexandra Grimmer.

Ma Jia 马佳 was born in 1981 in Jilin, China. From 2001 to 2005, she studied at the Central Academy in Beijing. In 2011, she moved to Austria, where she studied sculpture under Heimo Zobernig at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.

Her artistic practice and inquiry are rooted in humanity, culture, and history. She is interested in the connection between the material and the spiritual, as well as Eastern and Western cultures, which she expresses through sculptures and paintings. Growing up after the Cultural Revolution, during a period of rapid economic growth and the rise of Chinese capitalism, she experienced a time of swift transformation. This fostered her interest in the cultural and historical roots of these changes, which are connected to contemporary global conflicts.

Ma Jia, Foto: Eva Kelety © Bildrecht 2020

Ma Jia, 2020, Foto: Gerhard Himmer © gezwanzig.com

Ma Jia, Untitled, 2022, © majia.at

Since the late 1980s, Michael Blank has regularly exhibited his work both in Austria and internationally. Living and working today in Puch near Hollabrunn, he has developed a distinctive artistic signature.

Beginning with three-dimensional objects made from paper and metal, as shown in multiple solo exhibitions in 1990 (Theseustempel in Vienna, Galerie Heike Curtze Düsseldorf, Neue Galerie Linz, Austrian Cultural Institute New York), he later transitioned from paper to rubber. Rusting metal, often combined with stones, frequently appeared in his works, and stainless steel became another key material. In 2006, he began working with metal through forging techniques. Alongside these sculptural explorations, ink drawing has remained an important medium, continuously evolving over the past 20 years.

Blue Mountain Contemporary Art (BMCA) is an art collection and project platform based in Europe. Its warehouse in Vienna is a hidden space where work takes place—a studio and, at the same time, the perfect setting for encounters between art, music, and literature. The #occupyBMCA format was developed to enhance the dialogue between external artists from Austria, Germany, or China and the works of the collection. Each exhibition installation brings a new focus to the foundation of the collection, which was founded in 2010 and continues to grow and evolve.