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When analysing my painting from the point of view of the nomenclature of existing trends in art, it could be described as abstract surrealism. Surrealism, because there are biological and organic forms in it, often used in this trend; abstract, because the above-mentioned forms are presented in an unreal space, suspended in a void and they do not resemble any forms that exist in the world.

Untitled [abstract surrealism]

Art is based on drawing. A drawing, next to such primal phenomena as speech and dance, is an elementary means of communication and expression. The beginning of life in the sphere of self-consciousness and reflection was marked with linear thinking. Thinking with a line is a spontaneous communication resulting from a hand gesture – a magic gesture. Many would learn with a line, name with a line, acquire with a line and conjure with a line. Lines were drawn on jar lids, cave walls and human bodies.

Drawing – a universal sign

First, it should be specified, at least approximately, what it means. According to a definition "apart from time, space is the basic form of existence of matter." Along with the advances of science, different ideas regarding the character of space develop. Can space be considered a self-existing, independent, and transcendent element or is it an attribute (like time) of the existence of matter? Plato considered space as an element between the world of ideas and the world of objects. Plato's ideas, like the ideas of atomists, who believed in the existence of atoms in empty space rejected Aristotle who connected space with matter and sometimes with movement.

Space as a Material

My painting is concerned with space. By creating an illusion of space as convincing as possible, I want to express the falsehood of the apparent metamorphosis of the picture plane into a picture-as-window. The disappearance of the picture-as-object and its elevation to the stimulus of emotions enables the viewer to forget about the real situation (viewer – space – picture) and believe in a new situation (viewer – space – space). The emotional space that exists between the viewer and the artwork should expand to efface the picture plane and, consequently, the picture itself. "The viewer facing the canvas gets automatically placed at some point in the ongoing process of spatial integration. It proceeds from the point located at an indefinite distance far behind his back and the matter expands forward towards a vanishing point that suggests the bodies disappearing into a non-extant horizon and far beyond. The three-dimensional rendering of the intervening forms creates the feeling of being sucked into the space."

Konrad Jarodzki on his work

Artist’s texts — Konrad Jarodzki Archive
Konrad Jarodzki Archive
© Rafał Jarodzki 2023
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