Kiejstut Bereznicki, Untitled
The exhibition W KREGU SCHULZA / IN THE REALM OF SCHULZ constitutes a journey through the imagination of
Bruno Schulz (1892-1942) - an exceptional writer of prose (SKLEPY CYNAMONOWE / CINNAMON SHOPS, SANATORIUM POD KLEPSYDRA / SANATORIUM UNDER THE SIGN OF THE HOURGLASS, MESJASZ / THE MESSIAH) as well as an outstanding draftsman and graphic artist. The exhibit will consist of works by a group of Polish contemporary artists that will include Kiejstut Bereznicki,
Roman Cieslewicz,
Edward Dwurnik,
Andrzej Dudzinski, Stasys Eidrigeviecius, Janusz Kapusta, Franciszek Masluszczak, Rafal Olbinski, Henryk Sawka, Ella Schulz-Podstolska,
Franciszek Starowieyski, Wojciech Siudmak and
Henryk Waniek. Visitors will also have an opportunity to see significant excerpts from a handful of relevant films, among them Wojciech Has's SANATORIUM POD KLEPSYDRA / SANATORIUM UNDER THE HOURGLASS and
Piotr Dumala's FRANZ KAFKA, as well as the scenery that Allan Starski designed for Jens Carl Ehlers' film REPUBLIKA MARZEN / REPUBLIC OF DREAMS.
The unusual world of Schulz's prose links closely into this writer and artist's drawings and prints. This complex of works has inspired many contemporary artists and is the tangle from which they knit their own stories, which intertwine Schulz's world with the sphere of their own visions and metaphors. The oeuvre of Kiejstut Bereznicki is exceptionally broad and this exhibition includes two paintings and four drawings by this artist. In these works Bereznicki has depicted the local color of Jewish towns existing on the fringes of two societies. His representations correspond perfectly with Bruno Schulz's image of Drohobycz, the town where he was born, spent most of his life and died tragically. In twelve photomontages he created in 1963 (four of which will be included in this exhibit), artist
Roman Cieslewicz referenced specific characters and events from Schulz's stories. These works are composed of fragments of photographs and various items from the era (postcards, printed advertisements, packaging), and are a poignant reminder of the realities of life in the province of Galicia during the two world wars. Cieslewicz combined these elements into new figurations, creating visual communiqués that instead of merely illustrating constitute an equivalent of Schulz's prose, reflecting its complexity and specificities. Schulz's prose, and especially his SKLEPY CYNAMONOWE / THE CINNAMON SHOPS, became a kind of revelation for Cieslewicz, a discovery without which his further artistic development would have been different. The case of Franciszek Masluszczak is somewhat similar. This artist underlines that Schulz's two volumes of short stories showed him the path to artistic freedom, taught him to think independently, take complete responsibility for himself. Ultimately, it was the works of the author from Drohobycz that caused some fundamental changes in Masluszczak's perception of certain issues, prompted the artist to rebel against academic art and the subjects and principles of composition that were instilled in him as a student, in the various schools he attended.
Andrzej Dudzinski populates his own works with symbolic, often humorous animals. The artist contends that some of these figures, for instance, the bird Dudi and the beast Pokrak, correspond to creatures that appear in Bruno Schulz's stories. Much like Schulz, Dudzinski strives to confront ugliness and awkwardness, highlighting the beauty and charm that he perceives in things otherwise viewed as quotidian. Allan Starski's encounter with Schulz's works became a major challenge when he was enlisted as production designer on the film REPUBLIKA MARZEN / REPUBLIC OF DREAMS, a project being pursued by director Jens Carl Ehlers. Starski admits that Schulz's imagination proved difficult to translate into film. While preparing to work on the project, Starski precisely reconnoitered the places Schulz frequented, including the town of Drohobycz and the village of Truskawiec, the Jewish cemetery, the local synagogue, surrounding streets, and the school where the author and artist taught. In reconstructing the spaces that Bruno Schulz inhabited, the production designer became very well acquainted with the author's prose. In making his animated classic FRANZ KAFKA, filmmaker Piotr Dumala took a different approach to remembrance. This exceptional director of animated films was primarily interested in the events that might have transpired within the minds of Schulz's protagonists, and in the thoughts and moods of the author himself.
In his painting titled DROHOBYCZ, from the PODROZE AUTOSTOPEM / HITCHHIKING VOYAGES series, Edward Dwurnik took Schulz's city as his subject. In his own works, Schulz did not represent is hometown literally, opting rather to treat it as an archetypal town in which his stories play out. Into this construct of his imagination, however, the author did introduce many of the realities of Drohobycz, including a central square, a town park, Stryjska Street (Street of Crocodiles), a monastery of the Basilian Fathers, a municipal theatre and Podwale Street (Riverbank Street). Dwurnik has also dematerialized his version of Drohobycz, rendering it as immersed in the color blue - a color about which Wasily Kandinsky wrote, "It binds man to infinity, evoking in him a need for purity and a desire for the supernatural."
Exhibition opening: April 22, 2004, at 5 p.m.
"Willa" Gallery
ul. Wólczańska 31, 90-607 Lodz
tel. (+48 42) 62 79 95, 63 22 416
www.miejskagaleria.lodz.pl