maciej cholewiński / 2013 /
Enjoy the silence
This is one of the most musical exhibitions I have seen although there is not a single sound nor one note in it. What does the art of Paweł Kwiatkowski have in common with music? A few faces one can recognize, figures of people performing in popular bands? Titles of works- as if I was reading a record cover with a list of slightly strange, slightly dark songs I will hear for the first time. I have already got familiar with this ‘record’, I have seen the artist’s paintings around for quite a long time and I will state straight away- I regard them as exceptional.
Paweł Kwiatkowski is an artist connected with Łódź. He graduated from Lodz Academy of Fine Arts, where he works and teaches now. Already during his studies, in 2010, he won 4 awards in one competition of Władysław Strzemiński addressed to students of Lodz Academy and then he held scholarship of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage. Moreover, in 2012 he received artNobel prize for the best graduates of the Academy, which is awarded during Festival of Arts M(i)aSTO Gwiazd in Żyrardów (whoever comes up with such bizarre names?); the award included inter alia exhibition in Galeria Studio in Warsaw. And so I travelled to Warsaw.
You meet such people when you walk the streets in the evening, at night. In clubs, in concerts, by the bar counter, as they walk down the street, they are in a group but they remain alienated individuals, they are on their way to somewhere, probably where the artist sent them in his works Somewhat somewhere and From somewhere to nowhere.
One meets them mainly in concerts, but also on trams, in unpleasant subways. And in some pubs there is such light: cold, but one can get used to it, or even like it, and after some time consider it natural. This is what happens at 6 am in a club with drumming music. If one leaves, goes out and sees the sun, one wants to go back inside. Sun seems to be an intruder, it torments, bothers, irritates. It should shine in Italy or generally in other places good for painters- in the south. But in night clubs- no.
At Warsaw exhibition light was even inadvisable. The works were hanging practically in dusk, only some details were emphasized with spot brighter circles of light, very similar in shade to the one that filtrates from streetlights. This is how I felt: like in the street after dark. I was looking at the graphic prints, passing by people in my mind, groping through thickening crowd of figures that stood in my way and did not plan to give way. Some of them were with their backs towards me, some faces could not be seen, in some figures I recognized Paweł, in others- some loose acquaintances, singers too. All were silent.
There were only two types of paintings: portraits, mainly of young girls, or group scenes. Just for clarity: artNobel 2013 was also awarded to the following artists: Bovska, representing Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and Maksymilian Ziobro of University of Arts in Poznań.
One may ask in the end what the sense of writing about Warsaw exhibition for “Kalejdoskop” is. Well, it makes some sense. We will see the works of Paweł Kwiatkowski at end of the year (or maybe a bit earlier) in Galeria Re:Medium in Łódź. And then everyone will see if I exaggerate.
Enjoy the silence
To jedna z najbardziej muzycznych wystaw, jakie widziałem, choć nie ma w niej żadnego dźwięku, ani jednej nuty. Cóż więc wspólnego ma z muzyką sztuka Pawła Kwiatkowskiego? Te kilka twarzy, które można rozpoznać, sylwetek ludzi występujących w znanych zespołach? Tytuły prac – jakbym czytał okładkę płyty ze zbiorem trochę dziwnych, trochę mrocznych piosenek, które usłyszę pierwszy raz. Tę „płytę” akurat zdążyłem poznać, obrazy artysty widuję od dość dawna i powiem od razu – uważam je za wybitne.