Virtual
walk
Dominik Lejman “Beyond the identity principle”
Contemporary overall visual culture reinforces an obsessive validation through the mirror of identity. Accordingly, identity in art, the identity of the artist, determines the content and its meaning in the artistic mainstream, relegating to the background its potential universality. Based on the optical agreement, the rectangular paradigm, heir to the Renaissance window, as viewers, we expect to place ourselves at the centre.
My recent work deals with the reflection upon the unspoken agreement imposing on us such central, patriarchal position. Considering painting, I have always been more interested in the relational phenomenon of encounter with the viewer than the actual content itself. Painting has always been for me the simplest, most effective form of questioning the obvious. Seemingly the most banal gesture of reformatting the rectangular shape of the canvas, depriving the viewer of the illusion of his/her centrality, becomes the starting point for a broader reflection regarding contemporary, unquestionable strategy of representation existing in the art itself as well as in the institutional politics of art.
The anamorphosis, introduced in the Holbein’s ‘The Ambassadors’ (1533) – a political painting of its time, is not just a purely optical effect, but in fact a conceptual gesture, making us reflect upon the staffage of the ‘official version’, flattering our illusory sense of being ‘at the centre’.
The periphe/real, non-central gaze frees us from narcissistic involvement, enabling critical distance. Identity is not a value in itself. For the artist, it should only be an inspiration that is carefully examined from the sidelines.
Dominik Lejman 2025
Dominik Lejman
White, heterosexual male in his 50s. Painter. He graduated from Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk and the Royal College of Art in London. He participated in over 150 group exhibitions, to mention 2004 Venice Architecture Biennale, Sanguine at Fondazione Prada (2019), Macht! Licht! at Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg (2022). He is an author of over 100 solo shows in Poland and abroad. His last overview solo exhibition ‘Air Wants to Go’ took place at OP ENHEIM in Wrocław in 2020. His solo exhibiton Lunatics was featured as a representation of the Madnicity Pavilion at San Servolo, during the 59th Venice Biennale 2022. His works can be found in the renowned public collections as Muzeum Sztuki in Lódź, Bremen Kunsthalle, also in variety of public spaces like Cleveland Clinic collection, as well as in many private collections. He is an author of the permanent site-specific projects such as Staging Anonymous (dolne miasto Gdańsk, CSW Łaźnia), we miss what we miss (Poznań Sculpture Park, Galeria ABC). A laureate of Polish and international awards, e.g. the Paszport Polityki Award (2001) and Berlin Art Prize (2018).
At present, professor doctor Dominik Lejman holds the position of the II Painting Studio course director at the Magdalena Abakanowicz University of Arts in Poznań, Poland.
He lives and works in Berlin and Poznań.
Exhibition duration: Mar 5 – Apr 4, 2025
Exhibition opening: Wednesday, Mar 5, 2025, at 7 pm
Organizer:
The Jan Tarasin Art. Gallery in Kalisz
Culture Institution of Kalisz
Gallery partners:
Grupa Mo, Schimmel Pianos, Polifarb Kalisz S.A., M&P alkohole wina cygara
Media patronage:
Magazyn SZUM, NN6T, Calisia.pl, Radio Centrum, Ziemia Kaliska, Fakty Kaliskie