Marcin Kowalik: A Tale of the Working (Wo)Man
Marcin Kowalik: A Tale of the Working (Wo)Man
Marcin Kowalik: A
Tale
of the Working (Wo)Man
text: Basia Belami
When we invented cubism, we had no intention of inventing cubism, but simply of expressing what was in us. Pablo Picasso Marcin Kowalik’s paintings are dominated by abstract forms and empty spaces while featuring vibrant colors, illusions and a precision of lines and geometric structures. His work is non-anthropocentric – human figures rarely appear, and when they do, they are faceless, devoid of identity. Kowalik’s perception of reality dictates his work. His gaze is the architect’s – registering solids, enriching them with vibranace and a dose of artful spontaneity which gives rise to his novel, uncanny universe. For Kowalik, Picasso is a master of augmented reality. Kowalik is primarily interested in the Cubist period in the work of the Spanish artist, in the composition of spatial forms and their fragmentation. One of Picasso’s most fascinating aspects is his extraordinary inventiveness. Paintings, which appear shattered into prismatic fragments and recomposed without conformity to their initial arrangement, can be ‘read’ from the foreground, followed along the path delineated by the painter and, suddenly, apprehended not from the front, but sidewise. In 1944, Pablo Picasso joined the Communist Party. It seems to have provided him with a model of victory and strength which he begins to identify with the Communists. His joining the Party has obvious roots in his painting, which he considered to be more than a mere source of pleasure. Line and color were his arms, which he wielded in his revolutionary fight. He confided in Communism, enchanted with the specious beauty of its motivating ideals, but was even more partial to the company he could find in its circles. The stage in the life of the celebrated cubist sparked Marcin Kowalik’s new cycle. The cycle on a (wo)man at work. Each of the thirty canvases represents a person with their occupational attribute. 3
The Kite 57 × 57 inch acrylic on canvas 2015
The different quality of the paintings in “A Tale of the Working (Wo)Man” cycle arises from the overload of minimalism, the pinnacle of which was reached by Kowalik in his work on “Convergents”, one of his most recent projects. Here, he has sought chaos – introduced into his art by people, as various and volatile as the nature of painting. Despite his desire to renounce his creative asceticism, Kowalik’s human is still confined by the minimalist formal limits. To demonstrate a human form, it is sufficent to simply sketch an eye, the shape of a head and, immediately, a face outline becomes recognizable. This is the machination of the human mind – symmetrical points are sufficient for our imagination to fill in the missing parts. Apparently, the human has finally moved to the center of the young painter’s field of interest. However, these are mere appearances. Kowalik does not stray far from home and attempts to misplace the human figure, offering its simplest possible representation. He tells the tale of a human, but his tale is extremely complex and multi-faceted. He posed the challenge and has risen to it himself – undertaking the effort of organizing the experiment. He invited over a dozen of amateur painters to cooperation on committing to canvas their image of an occupation, inspired by the output of the author of “The Weeping Woman”. 4
The choice of Picasso, a widely known and recognizable figure, facilitates reaching out to people through painting, thanks to the legend surrounding his work. But these painting are not portraits of random models that were forced to sit for hours, holding a book or a cello. They spring from a different imagination, powered by the Spanish painter’s unique style, whose outputs are decomposed by Marcin to generate his own works on their basis. Kowalik concentrates on Picasso’s analytic cubism: realist outlines were simplified by Picasso to generalize the image; the painter selected the features he perceived as essential. “A Tale of the Working (Wo)Man” is the tale which does not only reference Pablo Picasso and his Communist inclinations, but attempts to build on it. Kowalik looks over the cubist’s shoulder in the act of painting and peers at the techniques employed. Not as a student, but as a mature artists looking for inspiration. And there, under Picasso’s hand, he finds the human. Kowalik is not merely interested in the formal aspects and assistant tricks, but also in the complete decomposition Picasso performed. He plays the cubist game adroitly, but on a completely different level: not only disintegrating the figures, following the author of “Guernica”, but deconstructing, in his particular manner, the paintings created by amateurs. Their work and Picasso are a mere pretext, a spark. They give Kowalik the chance of delving into planes and colors until the Picassean inspiration moves to the background to produce the unique space of Kowalik’s painting. The artist does not intend to destroy, but extract from another person’s painting the features he finds precious and essential. He gathers around him a collection of complexly intertwined motifs and themes, and sits down before the canvas to unravel them, one by one.
5
works
A Writer 31,5 Ă— 19,7 inch acrilic on canvas 2016
8
A Landscape Architect 23,6 Ă— 15,7 inch acrilic on canvas 2016
9
A Cook 27,6 × 19,7 inch acrilic on canvas 2016
10
A Landscape Architect 23,6 Ă— 15,7 inch acrilic on canvas 2016
11
A Hair-dresser 23,6 Ă— 15,7 inch acrilic on canvas 2016
12
A Dishwasher 27,6 × 19,7 inch acrilic on canvas 2016
13
A Signer 23,6 Ă— 15,7 inch acrilic on canvas 2016
14
A Miner 27,6 Ă— 19,7 inch acrilic on canvas 2016
15
A Model 27,6 Ă— 19,7 inch acrilic on canvas 2016
16
A Porter 23,6 Ă— 15,7 inch acrilic on canvas 2016
17
An Archer 23,6 Ă— 15,7 inch acrilic on canvas 2016
18
A House Painter 27,6 Ă— 19,7 inch acrilic on canvas 2016
19
A Soldier 27,6 Ă— 19,7 inch acrilic on canvas 2016
20
A Cardiologist 23,6 Ă— 15,7 inch acrilic on canvas 2016
21
A Glasworker 27,6 Ă— 19,7 inch acrilic on canvas 2016
22
A Subway Motorman 23,6 Ă— 15,7 inch acrilic on canvas 2016
23
A Nursery Teacher 23,6 Ă— 15,7 inch acrilic on canvas 2016
24
A Librarian 23,6 Ă— 15,7 inch acrilic on canvas 2016
25
A Steelworker 19,7 Ă— 15,7 inch acrilic on canvas 2016
26
A Car Mechanic 19,7 Ă— 15,7 inch acrilic on canvas 2016
27
An Urban Planner 27,6 Ă— 19,7 inch acrilic on canvas 2016
28
An Electronic Engineer 27,6 Ă— 19,7 inch acrilic on canvas 2016
29
A Philosopher 23,6 Ă— 15,7 inch acrilic on canvas 2016
30
A Bee-Keeper 27,6 × 19,7 inch acrilic on canvas 2016
31
A Celebrity 27,6 Ă— 19,7 inch acrilic on canvas 2016
32
A Varnisher 27,6 Ă— 19,7 inch acrilic on canvas 2016
33
A Gardener 23,6 Ă— 15,7 inch acrilic on canvas 2016
34
A Pilot 27,6 Ă— 19,7 inch acrilic on canvas 2016
35
A Football Player 27,6 Ă— 19,7 inch acrilic on canvas 2016
36
A Bassist 27,6 Ă— 19,7 inch acrilic on canvas 2016
37
Dr MARCIN KOWALIK Born in 1981. He works as an asistant lecturer at at Painting Department at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow, Poland. Kowalik’s work includes painting and installations. He was ranked in the top ten of Kompas Młodej Sztuki (the Compass of Young Art). He has participated in about 40 exhibitions in Poland and abroad. He has had over 30 individual exhibitions in Brussels, Leipzig, Düsseldorf, Dublin, Bern,Warsaw, Cracow (The National Museum) and other cities. He is a holder of scholarships of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, the president of the city of Cracow and the President of his home city of Zamość. Together with Adam Wsiołkowski he received Małopolska Voievodship Award in 2015. In 2007 he participated in the workshops for art curators – Crosskick Academie, Berlin organised by AdKV. In 2007/2008 he received a doctoral scholarship at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow. In 2008 he received a residence scholarship in Ateliers Höherweg 271 in Düsseldorf. He is also a holder of the Grazella Foundation scholarship. He gave guest lectures at the National College of ART and Design in Dublin (Ireland) and at the University of Ostrava (the Czech Republic). His works can be found in the collection of the National Museum Gdansk, Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts Museum in Krakow, Regional Museum in Stalowa Wola and Chełm (Poland), the Borowik Collection, the Clifford Chance Collection and many other small private collections all over the world. Kowalik is the founder of the ‘Wiara w Malarstwo’ (‘Faith in Painting’) scholarship that is dedicated to the students of the last grades of the secondary school of fine arts in Zamość, which he himself attended. Together with his students and UBS Swiss bank employees, he creates sculpture workshops for children at children's hospitals and then, basing on those works, he paints big scale paintings for the children hospitals. He currently lives and works in Cracow.
38
Marcin Kowalik A Tale of the Working (Wo)Man 2016
Center for Polish Culture 7417 Kingston Pike Knoxville, TN 37919 +1 865 584 4116 www.pienkow.com
Marcin Kowalik m: 0048 602 487 153 e-mail: mkowalik@asp.krakow.pl www.kowalik.art.pl www.facebook.com/Kowalikpaintings
Acknowledgements for project participants: Beata Buszta, Grzegorz Działa, Marta Flejszar, Marta Horowic, Klaudia Draber, Tomasz Kara-Sajek, Dorota Kmiecik, Stanisław Kmiecik, Franciszek Kowalik, Bartosz Mazurek, Sławomir Mazurek, Hanna Mazurek, Adam Sajek, Filip Sulma, Marta Sztorc, Szymon Tomski
Design and dtp: Kinga Nowak, Michał Bratko
40