Wilhelm Sasnal, "Untitled", oil paint on canvas, 160 x 120 cm, 2012
Warsaw's Foksal Foundation Gallery presents 11 new works depicting the artist's more intimate approach to painting, with elements of his private life subtly transferred to the canvas
The exhibition, which opens in time for Museum Night on the 19th of May, is the freshest collection of works to come out of Sasnal's studios. These are works made with a swift hand, driven by the tempo of our time, the frames reminiscent of cinematic close-ups or images captured by mobile phone - caught between a blur and an abstraction. In fact many of these paintings were made on the basis of mobile phone photos and other jpegs found on the Internet.
As the title indicates some works refer to the relationship between a father and his children. Yet the approach is dark, sometimes morbid as in the painting of a battered sculpture in the park whose massive leg appears to have been chewed off. Sasnal has emphasised that for him painting is not a game and his approach even to such everyday subjects as a slice of watermelon or a sleeping child is a new take on a traditional form of capturing the "here and now".
Sasnal's earlier works were on show across Europe in 2011 as part of the cultural programme of the Polish Presidency, including a solo show at the Whitechapel Gallery in London. Phaidon recently published an album of his selected works. Most recently Sasnal has been touring the festival circuit with his wife Anka and their art film It Looks Pretty from a Distance. The new paintings at the 2012 exhibition once again take up the intimate subjects of family, home life, marriage and children that the artist presented for his second solo show at the Anton Kerk Gallery in 2010.
Wilhelm Sasnal (born 1972) is a painter and illustrator whose works are inspired by everyday life and the mass media. He interprets reality in a personal and often private way, creating expressive images which leave lasting impressions. His painting and films are a varied and free play on styles, modes of representation, techniques and means which always remain true to a traditional base, like oil on canvas for his paintings and the movie camera for his films. A strong sense of history and personal memory emerges from his painting which cross over and blend in his works.
Father opens on the 18th of May 2012 at 7:00 pm and runs through the 30th of June 2012 at the Foksal Foundation Gallery
Fundacja Galerii Foksal
ul. Górskiego 1A
00-033 Warszawa
Tel: + 48 22 826 50 81
www.fgf.com.pl
Editor: Agnieszka Le Nart
Source: Press release