Thursday,
25 April
Two
The exhibition at the City Art Gallery in Kalisz connects two previous undertakings. One is a series of paintings entitled Margins created since the year 2000, which refers to all kinds of margins and peripheral places. The other is a floor surface covered by a pattern consisting of triangles painted in basic colours, plus black and white. The first presentation of this kind was at the PL Gallery in Gdynia in 2010 during an exhibition entitled The Shadow of a Painter.
QR
The title of the exhibition is a paraphrase of the QR code (Quick Response) and by adding the word in English “no”, the title therefore points towards a possible contradiction. One may not always receive the desired information, as often there just are no simple and quick answers. Although many phenomena can be explained and rationally described, there maybe still unknown and uncertain areas. At the same time every-day reality does not react well to a lack of feedback – questions arise and an answer has to show up. It doesn’t matter whether it is correct or not.
Questions
In the statement No Quick Response there are a couple of questions that have accompanied me for many years. To what extent does our vision deceive and cheat us? Is there such a thing as an innocent, clear look and if so, what directs it? Does the freezing of an image in the mind come from an instinctive will to possess or is it solely a function of memory and imagination? Does what appears in front of our eyes make sense, does it know mercy and empathy, or is it something absolutely heartless and non-human, an expression of our total opposite? Does a transfiguration of noticed reality take place in our mind and because of that the view ceases to be innocent? And finally – can the colours that change constantly and their equivalents in the form of pigments, be in fact media carrying ideas that would last?
Margins
How to find an elegant solution that will be at the same time correct and simple and take into account a few of the above-mentioned questions? The use of Scotch tape as a conceptual gesture by Edward Krasiński seemed to offer something perfect. A blue stripe visualised as a horizontal line of unlimited scope, which connected everything that it met on its way. This simple intervention by Krasiński annexed the reality of the surroundings and was both an inspiration for me and at the same time a challenge to create a colourful stripe of Margins. The difference is that the line of Margins consists of hundreds of various motifs that have been collected through many years. One picture is a tiny point taken out from the limitless space of the Great Picture.
In a narrow, horizontal gap I stick the fragments of my observations. Connected water colour paintings create a 10 cm wide stripe, which is placed on the gallery walls at my exact eye level of 165cm. Through the concentration of many motifs, a single painting loses its individuality and becomes unified. The reduction of the impact is deepened by rhythmical planes covered by sets of triangles. A horizontal stripe is painted in watercolour technique – it is an unstable paint, which pay be easily blurred or may fade away. On the other hand, through its transparency it is light, fresh and vital. Such an approach includes both faith and doubt. Faith comes from a belief in the atavistic usefulness of the senses, including the sense of sight. Doubt comes from my limited cognitive possibilities and limited vital power. All effort aimed towards creating something stable and final are doomed to failure. In this paradox of circumstances I act thanks to my instinctive impetus.
Ground
By placing a pattern consisting of triangles on the floor and by applying the rule of alternating the basic colours with white and black, I want to achieve a flickering space in which the spectator loses the sense of the ground under his/her feet. Therefore the spectator experiences in the shifting balance that he/she deals with ephemeral matter. By using the basic colours I underline, maybe unjustifiably, a loyalty towards painting. It is set in the space and time between white and black, between light and darkness.
Conclusion
The exhibition No Quick Response is visually unambiguous, but will not answer many questions. My actions include many contradictions, accompanied by ignoring absolute knowledge. Painting involves never-ending decisions – yes or no. The aim is not one image, but multiplied imaging.
Krzysztof Wróblewski