Artwork Series
Under Pressure
The cycle of the work I presented came from the inspiration of current situation.
Quoting Zygmunt Bauman, Polish sociologist: "We could describe what is going on at the moment as a crisis of democracy, the collapse of trust..."
In the cycle of works, I want to express my emotions related to people, their stay, the diversity of communities they create. The shape of these communities speaks on their behalf. I want to show people: Collected in crowds located in unspecified spaces, Single people in limited spaces, People in pairs that are in relationships. They are often under pressure.
In the cycle, I distinguish four subseries: Random crowd, People in the grid, People in circle, Multiplications.
In the cycle Headlines I let the letters speak. They are collated into strings of information with no beginning, and no end. Just like in reality when we are attacked from all sides by information. Crowded, compacted — just like these letters.
In the garden — these works were created in contrast to the others. Fragments can be cut out of newspapers from which to compose sassy people hanging out in the garden. In nature, people are out of pressure.
Works are in a square format — 50 x 50 cm. I want to build a large surface which through various formal and colour elements, will illustrate the richness of the human community. Works are done in collage technique, monotype, on a paper board assembled of pieces of graphic paper Fabriano.
I am inspired by current events. Their intensity is strongly supported by tools of modern digital technology — internet, social media, smartphones. Thanks to them pervasive information stream flows through our minds. And yet, I make my artworks in "analogue" way: I cut out from printed newspapers and magazines — a product which is unknown for many young people. The more, I look for old magazines. I like the old, deficient printing technique, black and white photos. This deficiency seems reflect background reality of happy stories of smiling people. I compose faces of young people who are not young any more. Maybe some of them are away... In my work I feel moving in time.
Random Crowds
Simplified, anonymous people's silhouettes arranged throughout the space of the composition. Their shapes are arranged casually, touching and/or overlapping with each other. They are in the uncoordinated, chaotic traffic.
Accidental collisions signify the density of information in which people move in chaos as if to seek the right message from newspaper fragments, as if in a search for truth. But this search is everlasting; it takes us to new horizons of knowledge.
Images from series "Random crowd" are inspired by the metaphor of "Liquid Modernity" developed by sociologist Zygmunt Bauman.
People in Circle
The circle is a perfect geometric figure — it has no beginning or end. I use them to show people in a specific order — this time in a circle-based pattern — individual spaces of individual people arranged in a circular form. Faces turned from the inside, outward, subordinate to the center.
In a drama — Wedding (Wesele) — of a Polish romantic poet, Stanislaw Wyspianski, in the last scene, people circle in a special kind of a dance — a straw bushel dance — which gives a symbol of apathy and impotence.
People in Grid
The structure of the grid is regular; its fields are equal. Everyone has the same amount of space. Being in the net gives you the feeling of being in the right place.
In his characteristic sculptures, Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, violated the proportions against the principles of "Spirit of Proportion." My tool is not a master chisel, but scissors and glue.
Multiplications
We should fulfill specific social roles. There is growing pressure on a single person to meet particular expectations. With the development of technology, efficiency increases. We duplicate ourselves in different variants.
"To be nobody-but-yourself — in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else — means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight." — Edward Estlin Cummings
Newspaper Portraits
Modern man is constantly confronted with all kinds of information. They attack him from all sides. The internet and the media take care of this. We live under their pressure and it is difficult to free ourselves from it.
Headlines
In these graphics, the headlines are arranged in a single string of words. There is a space between each headline — a blank square. The rows of letters become an abstract image filled tightly with letters. Just like in the stream of information with which we are bombarded by the media every day.
Outside Pressure
Is it possible to free yourself from pressure? Where can you find escape? The answer has long been the same: go where you can be in touch with nature. Nature will give you respite, ease the pressure you live under. Care for nature — our common wealth — becomes more important.
Garden
The garden is a passage, a corridor to true nature. In the garden we tame nature. We choose plants according to our taste. We compose them into artificial arrangements, we trim them, we pull weeds. In the garden, nature is ruled by man.
Paying Homage to Tree Structures
In this series of art prints crafted in linocut technique I aim to honor the intricate beauty of trees' natural structures. A black and white image can show what is most important. The black silhouette of the structure against the white paper reveals the ingenuity of nature.
Sculpting matrices is a kind of meditation. I then find myself alone with the material and nature. Outside pressure.
Interested in works from this series? Contact the artist