Agata Bogacka, "Pamiętniki" / "Diaries", 2011, photograph, photo courtesy of the artist and Raster Gallery
The exhibition "Diaries" presents Agata Bogacka's latest paintings, some of which were created from family histories, remembered by the artist or those discovered after many years. The autobiographical references are merely a pretext for a more universal reflection on the subject of human memory. The artist inquires the process of remembering and recreating certain images from the memory and the resulting distortions
One of the main inspirations was a document found in a family archive - a diary from the Warsaw Uprising of Paulina Żuławska, Bogacka's grandmother. Bogacka tried to reconstruct the contained description of her grandmother's journey. The artist also created similar "map-paintings" basing on Jonas Mekas's journal and Thomas Buergenthal's war memories.
However, in her painting compositions entitled "Exhibition I" and "Exhibition II", Bogacka attempts to symbolically merge pieces of a broken sculpture made by her aunt, Hanna Żuławska, based on preserved photographs from Żuławska's exhibitions. The nostalgic act of sorting old family photos becomes the painter's inspiration to create a collage resembling a family tree. Relying on only images of women, it is a surprising declaration of feminism in the context of Agata Bogacka's previous declarations on this matter.
Working with monochromatic colors and varied textures, Agata Bogacka's works, arranged with selected paintings created over the last three years, present an evolution of the artist's creative identity - there is an explicit shift from 'here and now' to a broadly understood history matter and totally different stylistic approach, compared to her earlier work. What remains unchanged is the way of recording reality and registering one's emotional states, as in a diary or memoirs.
Curator: Joanna Kordjak.
The project is realised under a grant from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
Opening: 12 August 2011 at 19:00.
The exhibition runs through the 9th of November 2011.
Zachęta National Art Gallery
Plac Małachowskiego 3
00-916 Warsaw
tel. (+48 22) 827 58 54, 556 96 00
fax (+48 22) 827 78 86
www.zacheta.art.pl
Source: press materials