Artists: Tomasz Ciecierski, Elżbieta Jabłońska, Katarzyna Józefowicz, Edward Krasiński, Joanna Malinowska, Magdalena Moskwa, Ewa Partum, Józef Robakowski, Maciej Sieńkowski, Monika Sosnowska, Krzysztof Wodiczko
Curators: Maria Morzuch, Andrzej Zagrobelny
Vernissage: 15 July 2022, 18.00–21.00
Duration of the exhibition: from 15 July to 9 October, 2022
Place: GGM2, ul. Powroźnicza 13/15
Graphic identification: Michał Pecko
The signature is a characteristic trace, even a one-of-a-kind fingerprint reserved for a specific artist. This peculiar sign becomes the key for the recipient to recreate the artist’s self-portrait to the extent that the artist himself wants to be recognizable and, consequently, to the extent that his work becomes recognizable.
Thus, the exhibition „Signatures” presents various ways of imaging proposed by representatives of several generations – from avant-garde classics to contemporary artists and contemporary artists whose works were not created in a vacuum. Therefore, in artistic proposals one can also look at the pretexts and the circumstances of their creation.
The most characteristic iconic signatures of the artists presented at the exhibition are the constellations of touches – hands, lips, fingers, as well as self-portraits and figures. We allowed ourselves to confront the characters of the precursor of the experimental film, Józef Robakowski, with the pioneering trace of Ewa Partum’s feminist art (imprinted lips).
The following artists also spoke about the broadly understood presence and role of man: Monika Sosnowska, Katarzyna Józefowicz and Magdalena Moskwa. The authors’ proposals include subtle features of an outlined existence, the compressed, breathless mass of human faces or the uniformity and subjectivity of a woman. The collection of self-portraits is also surprising: the somatic bond between Elżbieta Jabłońska and her son Antoni (from the series entitled Supermother) and photography in an inverted situation – this time we see the artist sitting on her adult son’s lap.
Edward Krasiński, performing with the line (the signature of life), fights with the avant-garde and at the same time favors it, however, giving this work – at his own discretion – dadaist accents. This shift towards dada gestures favors Joanna Malinowska, moving in the space of American artists, and recycling the idea a rebours, beyond the male perspective of the monumental canon of masters.
On the other hand, contextual support was directly sought by the Gdańsk artist Maciej Sieńkowski in Władysław Strzemiński’s alphabet, like many other Polish artists, strengthening the artistic identification with his image.
For decades we have been learning about his own alphabet, the author’s signature of the still innovative classic of Polish painting, Tomasz Ciecierski. Balancing between the suggestion of a multiplied figure and an abstract sign is bringing out the corporeality of the imagination in the images revealed to us.
We have started with the pioneers of art, so we need the presence of Krzysztof Wodiczko, a pioneer of multimedia projections. However, already historical in the artist’s biography – the Double Self-Portrait is a unique self-narrative.
The exhibition also shows the identities of artists for whom art is a reflection of life experiences, as well as a form of self-reflection. „Signatures” are also the curators’ views, which reflect their aesthetic preferences, many years of previous cooperation and choices.
Media Partners:
TVP Kultura, gdańsk.pl, Magazyn Szum, Notes Na 6 Tygodni, Trójmiasto.pl, Magazyn Trójmiejski Prestiż, Magazyn Linia
Dofinansowano ze środków Ministra Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego pochodzących z Funduszu Promocji Kultury – państwowego funduszu celowego.
