“International partnerships of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art open increasing more unique opportunities to those interested in the arts. This year, MOCAK reciprocates Vilnius by bringing an impressive present – an acquaintance with contemporary Polish painting. It is a snapshot of the sensibility of the entire generation, orchestrated by the leader of MOCAK, curator and art theorist Maria Anna Potocka”, Dr Arūnas Gelūnas, director general of the Lithuanian National Museum says.
“Amongst the artistic media, painting is a particularly potent weapon. In Poland, painting enjoys a position of special recognition, because, although the genre was slow in arriving in the country – its origins dating back only to the mid-19th century – it later gained impetus, brought many individualistic talents and entered into a partnership dialogue with European art history”, Maria Anna Potocka, curator of the event, says.
Works by 18 Polish artists on display
Most of the artwork on display was produced in the 21st century. The exhibition is divided into four thematic sections: the study of things and words, people, symbolic scenes, and the density of reality.
The exhibition features the following artists and their works: Małgorzata Blamowska, Tymek Borowski, Rafał Bujnowski, Edward Dwurnik, Pola Dwurnik, Paweł Książek, Kamil Kukla, Agata Kus, Marcin Maciejowski, Bartek Materka, Laura Pawela, Robert Rumas, Wilhelm Sasnal, Jadwiga Sawicka, Beata Stankiewicz, Michał Stonawski, Paweł Susi and Jakub Julian Ziółkowski.
M.A. Potocka, in an overview of the art by the painters presented, claims that each of artist works as an individual island and each represents an art trend of their own: “Contemporary manifestations of painting, post-conceptual and the ones inspired by postmodernism, no longer produce art trends or artist groups. Currently painters are preoccupied with the derision of the content element in art. Maximum of individualization brought about a dramatic variety in painting.”
“Each of us, mostly subconsciously, enter into a personal relationship with the things we see and the way we see them. Everyone is lost between our own accessible reality and the image we perceive in it. Artists, and that constitutes their immeasurable cultural, psychological and public value, are capable of transforming that image into a thing. The message they send depends on what they perceive and the way their understanding functions. Art allows us to experience the infinite diversity of human glance, the unintended eccentricity and the awe-inspiring creativity. By creating works of art, artists open to us mysterious areas of cognition and perception”, curator of the exhibition, M.A. Potocka explains.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue in Lithuanian and English, comprising texts on the medium of painting, reproductions of the works and short biographies of the artists.
Organizers: Museum of Contemporary Art in Kraków MOCAK, the Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Instytut Adama Mickiewicza
Curator: Maria Anna Potocka
Coordinators: Mirosława Bałazy, Evaldas Stankevičius
Partner: Polish Institute in Vilnius
Information partner: TVP Wilno
The purchase of some of the works was cofinanced by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland from the Cultural Promotion Fund and the National Special Purpose Fund. The purchase of some other works was cofinanced from the funds of Kraków City Council.
