The more distant the memories of communism, the more quaint and appealing they tend to become. The aesthetics of communist propaganda are enjoying something of a revival as the art world deciphers the many layers of truth hidden beneath colourful, poppy canvases of Eastern Europe's post-war expression.
Jerzy Ryszard "Jurry" Zieliński (1943-1980) was among the few artists in Poland who took up the Pop Art style during the 1960s and '70s, strategically paring down his palette and store of symbols to explore major themes of national identity, religion, eroticism and politics, giving them a subversive twist. He created works of art as part of the group Neo-Neo-Neo, which called for egalitarian art along the democratic ideals of the west. As a result, his work was largely absent from the historical mainsteam of Polish art, and is just recently undergoing rediscovery.
Oko Gallery in downtown New York City hosts the first U.S. show of the artist's works, featuring three key paintings acquired in cooperation with the Zderzak Gallery in Kraków and the artist's widow, Wiesława Zielińska. Each painting uses seemingly everyday symbols and places them in an unexpected context. In Irony (1970), an eye in the shape of an eagle soars over a broadly smiling mouth. Polish Act of Marriage (1974) depicts matrimony with a tinge of vulgarity. In Meeting (1969), an upturned face awaits a drop of blood.
Zieliński used the consumerist style of western artwork to act in opposition to the national doctrine of Social Realism, at the same time appropriating the latter's iconography. In this way, he converted the symbolism of both Pop Art and the communist propaganda of Communist-era Poland to serve his individual purposes - a social critique of the system. As Alison Gingeras remarks in her curatorial statement,
In Zieliński's paintings, a mouth always offers double meaning, telegraphing not only lurid possibilities but also a powerful message about the illusions of double-talk offered under the rubric of Communism and Soviet domination. Transcending monolithic interpretation, Zieliński's sometimes grotesque, sometimes humorous, and always lush paintings reference the dualities of hedonism and asceticism, pleasure and protest. By limiting his iconography to symbols already bloated with historical and social connotations, Zieliński was able to suggest that meaning can be reconfigured via context and intention.
Oko revives the spirit of Jerzy "Jurry" Zieliński and his contemporaries, also serving as a prelude to a larger exhibition devoted to the artist, scheduled to open at Luxembourg & Dayan London in October 2013. Oko Gallery was set up in an East Village storefront by Alison Gingeras in collaboration with Luxembourg & Dayan gallery as a venue for curatorial experimentation.
Jerzy "Jurry" Zieliński is on show at Oko (220 East 10th Street) between the 10th of April - 4th of May 2013. The opening reception takes place on the 10th of April at 6 pm. For more information, email: info@andreaschwan.com.
Editor: AL
Source: press info
09.04.2013