Mariusz Hermansdorfer

Konrad Jarodzki

I wrote about Konrad Jarodzki’s artistic work for the first time in 1967, and for the second time in 1969. Both texts referred to his individual exhibitions, although one of them concerned a retrospective exhibition while the other was related to the presentation of several dozen drawings. The first of these exhibitions closed the five-year period of the artist’s activity, the next one opened a completely new stage. During this period the artist created a few paintings with features similar to the initial phase of his creativity, but there was none among them that would herald a different issue. Jarodzki made the before-mentioned drawings within several weeks and he immediately decided to display them. They were utterly opposed to everything the artist had been working on so far. Namely, earlier he used to leave a compact form and break it from the inside into smaller and smaller elements until they were completely lost in the neutral surface of the canvas, whereas in the second stage of his work he destroyed fleshy, structural shapes from the outside. However, the final effects of the first and second method of action could be similar, which is why Jarodzki made a decision at that time to cancel his own achievements of the past seven years and return to the starting point.

Two more years have passed since then, and what could have been interpreted as an exceptional move in the past turned out to be a deliberately adopted approach. Jarodzki made an unexpected turn again and did it in a very similar way. Throughout this whole period, he made few paintings that continued the accepted method of artistic interpretation, and recently – in a very short time – he suddenly changed his style of acting. This time he rejected the fundamental principle of his compositions – the contrast between matter and space. This principle not only determined the arrangement of forms on the artist’s canvases, but more than that – it defined the main idea of the second phase of his work. In it, Jarodzki recorded various stages of conflict between the above-mentioned elements, examined their mutual relations, searched for the boundary between what is verifiable and what is immeasurable.

Now, the artist completely eliminated that division. Matter and space, the structural shape and its surroundings merged together, whichhappened as a result of a compromise in which both elements lost some of their properties. The organic form got rid of the thick texture and consequently, its multi-layer structure gave way to a thin layer of tissues. The luminous void, however, turned into an area composed of many microorganisms. In some works it is still possible to determine the former border, but mostly it is unlikely.

This symbiosis resulted in greater spaciousness of the composition. In drawings, it is a linear space built of many horizontally arranged lines whereas in oil paintings the effect is achieved by means of paint glazes. In the latter realisations, the organic form was presented in motion, at the moment of transformation, right when it expands and penetrates deep into the immeasurable area. The direction of its expansion is specified – it runs into the centre of the composition or intersects it along a diagonal line. However, the beginning of this process and its completion are not marked. For all this is happening in the same surreal world as before, where we observe the effect without knowing its cause. This artistic quality of Konrad Jarodzki’s compositions was created as a result of a completely opposite working methods. Contrary to the classical assumptions of surrealism, he never succumbed to the influence of chance. Conversely. The aforementioned stages of the artist’s work, the long breaks preceding weeks of intensive work, are part of a consistent and planned procedure. The artist adopts a specific way of interpretation and continues it until he reaches the zero point. Any further move in the same direction may lead to self-plagiarism. This is followed by a period devoid of artistic realisations, a time of thoughts and reflections which assumes more importance than the manual process itself. Then, the next stage begins, which – so far – constitutes a perfect reversal of a previous situation. Therefore, Jarodzki acts as if he wanted to check whether it is possible to obtain the previous effect while using the same elements but experiencing new conditions. The artist is aware that the chosen path will be significantly different, but this is exactly why he is so fascinated with it. Ultimately, he constantly deals with cardinal issues, which require to be analysed from many perspectives.

Exhibition of works by Konrad Jarodzki at the Club of the Wroclaw University of Science and Technology in September – October 1971.

Translated by: Małgorzata Możdżyńska-Nawotka, Katarzyna Mironowicz, ACR – Centrum Tłumaczeń Specjalistycznych

SOURCE:

Text originally published in the monthly magazine Odra 1971, no. 9, pp. 121-122

Courtesy of the Culture and Art Center (OKiS) [Ośrodek Kultury i Sztuki (OKiS)] in Wrocław