Uklański's series numbers 164 reproductions in colour and black-and-white, depicting famous actors playing the roles of Nazi officers in films set during the Second World War. The collection reflects the many faces of the "evil German", which continues to drive imaginations in a large part of society, notably in Poland, a nation that suffered tremendous losses during the German occupation. The handsome actors - Marlon Brando and Gregory Peck among them - seduce the audience with elegant, clean-cut appearances, obscuring the harsh truth about Nazi ideology and practices implemented by Germans during the war.
The series sparked significant outrage when it was exhibited at the Zachęta National Gallery of Art in 2000. Polish actor Daniel Olbrychski took a sword to his likeness to protest the use of his image in the project. It was the first of several scandals to rack the institution, which eventually led the gallery's director, Anda Rottenberg, to resign.
Uklański has been living in New York since the 1990s, making a name for himself on the global contemporary art scene for a style that New York Times critic Roberta Smith has called a "wily combination of seriousness and black humor, sincerity and cynicism". Among his works put on auction in past years, Untitled (Skull) from 2000 sold for $228,000 and Untitled (NIAMH) - a compilation of pencil shavings on painted wood and Plexiglas frame, from 2008 - sold for $104,500. Now on auction at Phillips de Pury is Set A of The Nazis, 41 pieces sold as C-prints mounted on Sintra board, with each panel numbered and annotated.
Piotr Uklański (born 1991) is a graduate of Warsaw's Academy of Fine Arts. He uses a range of media - from photography, installations, through video, to performance art - to create critical works examining stereotypes in popular culture and visual clichés. The artist takes material for his works from degraded areas of pop culture, showing their unquestionable magic. His works speak as much of spontaneous joy in the face of beauty as they do of a sense of guilt emerging from its experience.
For more information on the auction, see: www.phillipsdepury.com
Author: Agnieszka Le Nart