The exhibition displays a parallel picture of two divergent approaches to art, while at the same time presenting two artists of different generations, backgrounds and interests. The latest monumental work by Piotr Uklański has been juxtaposed with paintings and theatre objects by Tadeusz Kantor
The juxtaposition of these works aims to create conditions for an interaction between the objects and transformation of their meaning and iconography as offered by Uklański. Uklański's work, entitled The Year We Made Contact (2010), is an installation centred around an enormous textural fabric - a gobelin, or tapestry, which in its style, form of expression and stage design quality strongly evokes a well-recognized ambience of Tadeusz Kantor's and Józef Szajna's theatre. Thus, its original composition, spatial and quasi-theatrical design, as well as colour palette bear the features of the great tradition of Polish artistic weaving of the 60s and 70s of the 20th century. A round, red, standalone painting entitled Czerwony Karzeł / Red Dwarf, inscribed to the painting's field, makes an integral part of the work of art. They make an inseparable whole that entirely occupies the space in which they are placed.
By making the decision to keep the work in such a recognizable form and style, Uklański created a work which consistently follows the formerly adopted artistic program. It aims to search for new meanings hidden in stereotypes, cultural symbols and national myths. In case of The Year We Made Contact, the artist in a sense applies a specific layer of meaning onto a clearly defined and recognizable stylistic layer. The title of the work corresponds with a science-fiction movie of the 1980s while, as its evocative title, Red Dwarf, suggests, the element of the spatial composition is but a visual interpretation of a dying star.
The idea of introducing Tadeusz Kantor's paintings and objects as well as their inclusion into a joint artistic space with a new installation by Piotr Uklański offers a unique opportunity for identifying those features and forms of expression which have inspired the young artist's work. Therefore, the presence of original canvases and mannequins of the originator of Cricot 2 Theatre plays an important role in the interpretation process, stresses tradition and highlights those aspects of Uklański's work which do not follow it.
While analysing the sources and origins of style, symbolism and expression of Kantor's theatre, it is worth to relate them to rarely available paintings created in the style of Matter Painting in the 1950s and 1960s, displayed at the exhibition. These paintings and Kantor's works on canvas created under the influence of informel aesthetics are on display surrounded by the objects from the first performance of Cricot 2 - W małym dworku / In a Little Manor House.
This performance had its premiere on January 14, 1961. It was during that performance that the actors were treated the same as objects. Completely deprived of individuality, they formed a uniformed mass. As Kantor referred to them as "people in a wardrobe taking on features of the clothes hanged there, deprived of their own will". The exhibition at the Art Stations Foundation offers a unique opportunity to compare the "stylistics of formlessness" of the painting matter and its transgression with the symbolic theatrical space.
A collection of Kantor's paintings onto which the artist incorporated "baser" objects, such as a broken umbrella, makes an important part of the exhibition. The elements of so-called "ready-made reality" are displayed as the visualisation of insignificant objects with no artistic value which assume the qualities of a work of art. Within this section, special attention should be paid to the surprising and interesting correlation of simple materials, such as unprimed canvases used in two paintings from the series Wszystko wisi na włosku / It All Hangs by a Single Thread.
The arrangement of the exhibition at the Art Stations Foundation, its design and concept of displaying Tadeusz Kantor's and Piotr Uklański's works side by side allow for a reflection on interweaving of styles and traditions, and on the search for new forms. They also facilitate a more profound deliberation on the essence and message of works that constitute individual elements of this coherent spatial composition.
It is worth to note that Piotr Uklański's work from the Grażyna Kulczyk Collection premiered at this year's Biennale at the Whitney Museum and it is on display for the first time in Poland. All paintings by Tadeusz Kantor also come from the Grażyna Kulczyk Collection. Theatre objects were made available by "Cricoteka" Centre for the Documentation of the Art of Tadeusz Kantor in Kraków.
Opening: November 4, 2010; 7:00 p.m.
Continues through January 21, 2011.
Source: Press materials.