Galerie Jiri Svestka: Rafal Bujnowski, Lamp Black
Secure visual insecurity
Has Modernism succeeded in Poland or has it failed? If Modernism could be defined by ambiguous experiences and diffuse norms and values; that complete renewal in the era of Globalism does not necessarily mean being modern, the lack of this substance as well as the breakdown of the world and ideas into successively smaller parts, induces an existential unrest. But there is another side to modern life philosophy: efficient, regulatory, systematizing actions and structures. The diversified work of the young artist Rafal Bujnowski supports the mixture of these opposing viewpoints. This has made Bujnowski one of the most successful Polish artists in the international art world. His most recent paintings and illustrations that are currently being shown in the Galerie Jiri Svestka, pursue this inner disjunction.
After a while Bujnowski’s large-format pictures as well as the smaller picture series, which he calls “containers for light”, do not seem to remain unchanged. Except the main painting of the exhibit “Lamp Black, Shadow”, a self-portrait of the artist holding a mobile phone in his hand, depicts a shadowy figure remaining unaltered.
The concept of the other paintings, which were created with light-sensitive colours and under constantly changing light situations, give the impression to be “on the run”; one can actually imagine the painting trying to run away from itself. The onlooker will therefore not find one single painting in the entire exhibit that one can conclusively apprehend or that possesses the perfect form. In the fabulous painting “Tondolo” even the topographical coordinates are dismissed, there is no top or bottom, no left or right, no centre. Bujnowski constantly questions the social status of art and of artists. He works outside of artistic subjectivity and stylistic individuality, and does not consider his art as a laboratory of painted geometric expression.
The exhibit “Lamp Black” is accompanied by Rafal Bujnowski’s first art-book on a CD, in which he explains how the pictures at the exhibit should be “used”.
Galeria Jiri Svestka
110 00 Prague, Biskupsky dvur 6, 09.02.08
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