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| Utamaro, 1990, 280x72cm, oil on canvas |
W. Baraniewski, An Attempt of the Whole in Marek Sobczyk Badania Mozgu w Polsce 1979-2012, trans. from Polish by M. Krasnicka-Wojtyczka, The Gallery of Art in Legnica, 2012.
AN ATTEMPT OF THE WHOLE
The project of painting formed by Marek Sobczyk is an exceptional undertaking which cannot be encapsulated in only the area of art or aesthetics. Put to the test of historical perspective – and this is partly the aim of this exhibition – it shows both artistic and intellectual coherence.
“Ancient” pictures are surprisingly “modern”, still relevant as we would like to say. Their quality, value, specific character are still noticeable and clear. Despite the lapse of time nothing has faded away in these pictures. Speaking a bit colloquially, they have not become dated, have not lost power or energy. They are simply important and moving. It allows for showing them not in the context of sentiment and reminiscence, but within a live project, which is the whole artistic experience of Sobczyk. And yet it is not about avoiding the historical context; it is extremely important. With time its significance is even growing. But it is about reaching a point of view which is external towards these processes, which allows us to find ordering and systematizing motives in the project. It enables us to perceive the undertaking as an attempt of “the whole”.
Its initial vectors were determined by the tradition of conceptual art of the end of the ‘70s and the need to determine oneself with respect to that tradition, and an analytical attitude adopted by Sobczyk then and which he has been faithful to to date. While the tradition of conceptual art was an essential intellectual reference point for the painter as it was the most important and the strongest trend in Polish art when he made his debut, the analytical component and the attached critical potential of this art was the result of Sobczyk’s independent observations.
It resulted in developing a specific sharpness of vision and formulation of painting tasks. Modern critics read these actions mainly in the context of neoexpressionistic style, not noticing something more important, that is the critical potential of this art. He has built its quality, this vivid value which is so expressive today. Thus perhaps it is time to reconsider Sobczyk and indicate the significance of this critical component. Especially today where criticism has created and developed the concept of “critical art”, politically instrumentalized and determined by the categories of corporality, sexuality, identity, exclusion and trauma, in which in principle painting does not fall as such. And it seems to me that we should discuss critical art with reference to the very ‘80s.
The critical potential of art was the strongest then. And Sobczyk’s painting set a specific level there. Paintings like “Ganja”, “Adam and Eva Braun”, or “Jesus’s Trousers” will one day take a key position in the area of visualization of our history and social emotions.
Read part 2 of "An attempt of the whole" - "Establishing new meanings".
