Malgorzata Szymankiewicz. Reflecting View

About

The starting point for the series was the problem of widespread overproduction of images in contemporary culture, the task taken was to examine the current state of the image – its condition and varied functions. The contemporary artist is entangled in the continuous process of distribution of content generated by the culture of spectacle. The all-encompassing visualization is merely a reflection or symptom of a wide range of diverse social practices. Presenting his own projects, the artist often unconsciously mimics the mechanisms of advertising and market laws that penetrate the area of creativity - through the competitiveness and coercion of "visibility" in this field. The indispensability of exposure, broadly defined presentation, being viewed, displaying or promoting artistic endeavors is inextricably linked to the artist's profession and is currently responsible for building his position on the art market. The aim of this work is to show this dependency and to criticize such a state of affairs as a practice that perpetuates visual domination, manipulation, reproducing the superficiality of an "eye-centric" culture in which artists no longer take full responsibility for the images they have created. Their productions are one-sided messages that exclude dialogue with the recipient and the possibility of creating a closer relationship with him or her. The painting objects interpreting this phenomenon have been created as a result of observations and reflections on a variety of aesthetics drew mainly from the field of advertising, with its main task to manipulate the recipient and impose a specific way of seeing. The material evidence of these activities taking the form of billboards, banners, shop windows, showcases cluttering public space became the objects of interest for the artist. They were "reconstructed" in the form of abstract objects treated in a painting manner. These primitive images have evolved into sequels - devoid of imperative charge and generating more inconspicuous meaning allowing the viewer to complete an object of art by self-interpretation, giving space to one's own thoughts. The proposed concept is to inspire thinking of contemporary visual culture and to build a shared responsibility for its shape.

Inspired by billboards, banners, or illuminated display cases, the images have a structure of an assemblage, created using a variety of techniques (traditional painting medium and untypical materials - remnants of foil, paper, glass, plexiglas, aluminum, MDF being usual waste in outdoor advertising production). The form of the objects is post-painting (the final image is created with the use of non-typical painting materials as a continuation of avant-garde imaging techniques such as collage, assemblage, ready made. The choice of technique results from the naturally expanding concept of painting, which incorporates new means of imaging in the scope of its practices.