Art/work

 
This painting by Polish contemporary artist M. Drohomirecka is a paraphrase of Jan Matejko's famous painting of 1864 (Matejko, as a hologram lifted from his self-portrait, is also present and positioned centrally between the new and the old Polonia. The old Polonia (a mournful heroine in the original Matejko's painting) is looking straight at the viewer. She has been moved to the right, though, like an obedient daughter attached to her creator. She offers herself as a sacrifice, but to whom and for what purpose, we shall not know. She is no longer shackled, so the gesture of her extended hands is empty (literally, these hands do not embrace anyone or carry anything). On the left from Jan Matejko and the New Polonia is Jacek Malczewski in armour (from his own self-portrait of 1913), together with his muse. These characters, these holograms, are suspended in the realm of the Red Room from Twin Peaks and guarded by ghoulish dogs. And so these phantoms are engaged in summoning. But whom? The catafalque and anvil from the original Matejko's painting have been replaced by a shell from Boticelli's Birth of Venus. But here, in place of the goddess, there appears Doda, a pop singer who, thanks to successive plastic surgeries has become a more sophisticated version of herself, while still remaining an average beauty whose banality evokes a feeling of comfort in the audience. Only blood is real. Or it isn't. The blood spilled onto the shell means only that a place for yet another victim is kept open. As soon as the need for some other Polonia arises, its hologram will be generated.

M. Drohomirecka, Polonia at the Altar (acrylic and oil on canvas) 2020

 

Illustrators:

  • Małgorzata Drohomirecka, independent artist, London, UK (oil on canvas)
  • Zuzanna Szmyt-Nowakowska, independent artist, Gdańsk, PL (ink on paper, watercolor)
  • Marianna Cendrowska, independent artist, Gdańsk, PL (oil pastels)
  • Bartek Dzięgiel, independent artist, Warsaw, PL (ink on paper)

 

Artists’ Bios: 

Malgorzata Drohomirecka is a visual artist. She studied Painting at Academy of Fine Arts, Gdańsk (Poland). After completing her master’s degree in 2006 she moved to London, where she lives and works since. Her practice intertwines painting, printmaking, and film. 

Bartek Dzięgiel, graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, studied Conservation and Restoration of Works of Art. Independent visual artist and designer. He works mostly on paper.

Zuzanna Szmyt-Nowakowska, born 1988, graduated in sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk and Architecture and Urban Planning at the Gdańsk University of Technology. Currently, she designs the interiors of cruise ships, in which she combines artistic and technical education. Sculpture, drawing, and painting remain her passion.

Marianna Cendrowska, graduate of the the Academy of Fine Arts, Gdańsk: painting, 1997 class. Few individual and group exhibitions. Returning from the afterlife of family life.