Anti.Mnemosyne

About

Martin Kozlowski was born 1984 in Stockholm [Sweden] and currently lives and works in London [UK], studying at Goldsmiths, where he has recently been nominated for the eminent Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize [UK] by a group of tutors. He has been trained in Fine Art Painting in Stockholm from 2008 — 2011 but recently in 2011 moved to London where his trajectory shifted to more abstract and minimal contemporary painting. Coming from a background of graffiti writing, Kozlowski's most recent work began an investigation and exploration of issues that concentrate on the experiences and memories that we create, are exposed to and manipulate, or have manipulated by others. The exhibition title Anti.Mnemosyne is derived from the titaness Mnemosyne, who is mother to the nine muses and a prominent figure in ancient Greek mythology. Her name is used in the exhibition conjunctively with the prefix ‘anti' to take up the myth of the two rivers Lethe and Mnemosyne as nodal point of connection to Kozlowski's latest work on remembrance and the uncovering of traces of memory and inspiration. Anti.Mnemosyne tries to mediate Kozlowski's experiences via revealing and re-substantiating what usually remains invisible to the ordinary bystander. Concentrating on the emotional ties to loved ones, places, or the mnemonic musings that are derived from them, Bridging painting and calligraphy [esp. writing graffiti] with an approach that mirrors Lou Zhenggang and her opinion that ‘calligraphy reveals one's true self, [whereas] painting uncovers the aspirations spoken from their heart,' Kozlowski pays tribute to the elements that formed him as an individual without reverting to lamentation. His at first glance seemingly random placement of paint and lines morphs into complex systems of labyrinthine proportions that thematize an allegory of the mind, picking up on what Freud insists, ‘a trace of each inscription [that] remains in the surface below.' This particular alchemy of excavating the buried strands of memory through an abstract and minimal approach to patterns and structures of painting and drawing makes Kozlowski interesting, allowing his audience to approach and interpret the artworks in relation to their own experiences. Silent Veil Agency is a creative laboratory-space for communication, interaction and exchange of artistic, cultural, and scientific research, concentrating on projects revolving around contemporary life in our urban habitat and the nomadic wanderings of a culturally and artistically creative people. Martin Kozlowski's exhibition opening also acts as the launch event for Silent Veil Agency and its curatorial organ Silent Veil Projects.