Prze-malowywanie świata
Re-painting the World

Summary/Abstract: Recycling has become a distinctive feature of the works of the young Polish artists born in the 1970’s. A creative approach towards the past and the current prose of life produces a variety of unique works. When confronted with this art the viewer starts thinking about both the sense of former cultural norms as well as the everyday messages carried by the media. Violetta Sajkiewicz observes that this innovative “game” may equally well be applied to well-known works of art as well as to “the slightest and most mundane scrap of reality.” It is becoming increasingly apparent that the artistic processing of an original and well-known work can often make the viewer feel a specific discomfort. Although it is possible to find the original beneath the “clothing” provided by recycling, one is, nevertheless, left with a feeling of alienation and confusion. This is the case with the paintings of Wilhelm Sasnal and Piotr Janas, which evade conceptual stereotypes. By using computer graphics artists like Laura Pawela and Mariusz Dąbrowski intriguingly suspend our traditional understanding of reality. “The image is not a copy of reality; it is its after-image which wanders about in the computer’s operational memory.” Speaking in the first person also results in interesting compositions. This relates to the paintings of Agata Bogacka, Agnieszka Jarząb and Małgorzata Jabłońska. Their works are specific types of self-portraits which they skilfully control. Some are extremely provocative, for example Agata Bogacka’s diptych I’m Bleeding, which shows a captivating contrast between the image of the artist covered in red paint and another which depicts her holding a carton of juice. Violetta Sajkiewicz emphasises the common denominator which features the work of young Polish artists. This is “the reference to the poetics of everyday life.” Their art reflects ugly streets and blocks of flats as well as bars and pubs. It is also important that the viewers are faced with a space which is free of the artists’ judgments and opinions. This gives them the freedom to perceive individually the obvious and trivial reality reinvented in the work of the young artists.

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