Works from the M D R N B D S M series, source: www.bunkier.art.pl
Curator Lidia Krawczyk sets the show in the context of gallery exhibitions as window display, with the curator as a judicial authority and the artist as a cabaret singer, with art appearing to be little more than commerce and conspiracy
Zamojski's latest project at Kraków's Art Bunker Gallery, with its peculiar title M D R N B D S M, plays a subversive game with modernism: its ideals, its sterility, the separation between the artist and his audience, and the separation between the producer and his consumer. Putting modernism in the context of bondage, dominance and sado-masochism, it shifts its connotation from the movement's prim, rational geometry into a fetishistic fascination and power play.
Zamojski says that "it's impossible to run away from the 'classic characteristics' (of an exhibition) since the exhibition itself, with all its standard exhibitory gadgets, such as the curatorial essay, vernissage, and so on...". He puts himself as a specimen on a table to shows the workings behind the artist and the gallery, by using the metaphor of "arranging cookies". In an interview with the curator, Zamojski explains,
The bondage and domination works in both directions: I feel dominated and tied up, but I also dominate and take control. These relations, the terminology of which is drawn from so-called "low culture" have an ideal application in the field of art. And this perhaps leads to the utterly banal conclusion that these divisions into "high" and "low" culture are no longer relevant.
The exhibition includes sculptures made of sweets, commissioned by the artist, along with screens of damaged computers files, texts on magnetic attraction and a looping video on how to build towers out of cookies. The gallery's lower level is filled with a huge installation, an orchestra conducted by Zamojski. He becomes the maestro of the enterprise, directing the activities of other according to his commands for the first time in his career. These works were entrusted to his "subcontractors", with none made by Zamojski himself. Much of the resulting show is left in the hands of chance.
The exhibition is accompanied by Magnetic Man, an amalgam of sculptures of simple magnetised wooden blocks arranged by Zamojski and photographed by Bartosz Górka, published with writings by Marco Antonini, a curator, writer and educator affiliated with New York City institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum, MoMA PS1, 3rd Ward Design Center City College/CUNY, and the Rhode Island School of Design. His articles have appeared in Flash Art International, Cura, Whitehot, Museo, BMM, Arte&Critica and NYArts, and he is the director of the NURTURE art initiative. Antonini provides a whimsical description of Zamojski's simple, modernist-inspired shapes, interpreting these forms and endowing them with a concise, poetic narrative. The description of a tall cylinder made of stacked wooden disks, complete with a handle that suggests it is a pitcher of sorts, suggests that
This kettle never whistles
it stands stretched up, dark and gigantic
casting shadows on table trinkets
ripple cut chips
and cracked naphthalene balls
Eighteen ribs and a knee-jerk handle
spell its name loud and heavy
for the rest of us to know
The combination of comical shapes and creative visions of what they are or what they might be are a reminder of how much is hidden behind a seemingly stark geometric shape - a secret the modernists were acutely aware of.
Also this month, the Arsenal gallery in Białystok hosts a show of Zamojski's works, titled New Drawings, Portraits and a Poem and curated by Ruba Katrib of New York's Sculpture Centre. The show flips historic and iconic symbols on their heads, interpreting them through crude, neo-primitivist representations and cartoonish forms. The artist takes recognisable images of our times, spanning religion, science and pop culture, and brings them to a uniform level. The Białystok exhibition delves into the idea, purpose and practice of a contemporary artist, much like the show in Kraków aims to do. As he appears to make fun of the most revered icons of culture past and present, he shows both the humour and frustration of art-making. It reveals the artist's doubts and insecurities, offering insight into the evolution of a work from sketch to final piece.
As Katrib writes in the curatorial statement for the exhibition, "For Zamojski, the lines between his own work, other artists’ works, inner lives, the beginning of a work, and the completion of a work are all intertwined". This interplay is at the heart of the show, as it parodies the role of the artist - albeit in a searching, sincere way.
Honza Zamojski (born 1981) presents a sharply astute commentary on contemporary culture, putting forward a style that is both sarcastic and indulgent. Zamojski clearly enjoys pop culture and all its enticing wickedness, but he’s also wildly adept at pointing out every vestige of hypocrisy and idiosyncrasy that surrounds us. He is deeply involved in the world of art book publishing by way of his Morava Publishing Company and he is also behind the Rookie art book publishing contest and festival hosted by the Arsenal City Gallery Poznań between the 6th and 12th of December. The event singles out the best independent art book project of the year, while giving established art book publishers a chance to showcase their goods to the public, along with a series of discussions and panels on the state of the genre and the market.
MDRNBDSM takes place at the Art Bunker Gallery in Kraków between the 1st of December 2012 - 27th of January 2013. For more information, see: bunkier.art.pl
Honza Zamojski - New Drawings, Portraits and a Poem is on at the Arsenal Gallery in Białystok from the 21st of December 2012 - 17th of January 2013. For more information, galeria-arsenal.pl
Rookie takes place at the Arsenal Gallery in Poznań between the 6th-12th of December 2012. For more information, see: www.r-o-o-k-i-e.com
Author: Agnieszka Le Nart