I Count the Layers in My Paintings, I Count the Pictures on My Wall
Art Hub Rydzowa Gallery in Łódź
19.10 - 18.11.2024
Photo: Weronika Jędrzejczak (1,2,3,4,5,6), Tomek Ogrodowczyk (7,8)
My artistic practice is concerned themes related to memory, documenting the passage of time, cataloging, and preserving memories. I also focus on issues of overproduction and consumerism. I transform everyday activities and materials into works of art. Currently, I am engaged in two projects – painting and photography – which revolve around cutting, gluing, and reassembling fragmented elements. These projects complement each other, stemming from identical artistic explorations.
Every day, I document my life using a smartphone camera – a popular and widely accessible tool. I draw inspiration from amateur photography, using functions that traditional cameras lack. The smartphone camera allows me to switch between the front and rear lenses, enabling me to capture both what is in front of and behind me. Photos taken with the front lens document what I see, while those taken with the rear lens serve to take selfies. I do not frame specific shots or create narratives, capturing only what is within the lens's reach. I believe in the power of chance. Each photo measures 1 x 1 cm
(at the exhibition, I will display 56,700 photos arranged into a single composition). I arrange the photos in a graphic program, placing them in a regular alternating pattern. The 'Stories of Everyday Life' project began in early 2020 and remains ongoing.
My painting objects are created by deconstructing and reconstructing works from my student days, including training pieces, sketches, and those specifically painted for projects. I create new canvas paintings intended for cutting and gluing, without revealing their creation process, presenting them
in a condensed form. I am continuously seeking new ways to refine this process. The first painting I cut, glued, and pressed was in May 2016.
I cut, I stick myself together
Szewska 16 Gallery, Poznań
8 - 31.05.2024
The curatorial team:
Natalia Czarcińska, Jerzy Muszyński i Dorota Tarnowska-Urbanik
Photo: Jadwiga Subczyńska
My artistic practice encompasses two periods: before the start of psychotherapy (painting objects) and after its completion (photographic project).
Feeling anxious about presenting my work, I accumulated, folded, and eventually hid them. I initiated my method of destroying and reassembling paintings to cope with the excess of works created during my studies, many trials, and exercises, and my reluctance to dispose of them, throw them away, or give them away. I sought a way to condense and reduce their form, making them easier to store. I began cutting unsuccessful and unaccepted paintings on canvas into strips and forming non-representational arrangements and structures from the glued modules. Painting became a material from which subsequent images were created, and the awareness of the inevitable destruction of these forms allowed me to create without fear of judgment. The act of changing, transforming, and reimagining unaccepted painting material into accepted ones became increasingly significant for me.
Gradually, I began to associate my method of creation with the process of psychotherapy. All my thoughts, memories, and ways of perceiving reality were broken down and reassembled in a new order, free from fears and irrational, destructive thoughts. At the end of this process, I felt an uncontrollable need to talk about myself and place myself at the center of my artistic interests. I explored the theme of myself as an artist. I also aimed for a smooth transition from abstract art to figurative art, utilizing my previous experiences.
For documenting my life, I chose a smartphone camera, a widely accessible tool that does not require specialized photographic knowledge. I used the fact that it has lenses on both sides. I photographed moments related to art creation and everyday activities, giving them equal importance. With consistent frequency, I took two photos: one of myself and, by switching the lens settings, everything in front of me. There were periods of greater and lesser intensity, monotony, and visible changes. I constructed photographic collages from the resulting photos, assembled based on modules (each individual photo measuring 1 x 1 cm). The project began in 2020, during a residency at the Baltic Gallery of Contemporary Art in Slupsk, and continues in parallel with my work on painting objects.
Sentences, Quotes, Titles – Excerpts from Journals, 1996 – 2024, in Non-Chronological Order:
'I paint what I cannot photograph, I photograph what I cannot paint.' – Man Ray
'…if something bores you when done once, do it twice. If it still bores you, do it four times…' – John Cage
I seek the moment of return, from abstraction to figuration.
'St. Ignatius' commandment: first and foremost, do not bore!'
Find a way to condense my works, reduce their size, make them easier to store.
I will never throw away any of my paintings.
Psychotherapy: works before, works after.
Excerpts of paintings, excerpts of reality.
I collect paintings.
'To possess the world in the form of images is to experience reality anew.' – Susan Sontag
'Nothing is boring if you look at it long enough.' – Gustave Flaubert
'Painting is the answer to all questions.'
'Quantity can create quality.'
'If you are ashamed, stop being an artist.'
'If they don't invite you, go by yourself.'
The artist sits on the train.
'I don't care if I write poorly; one learns to write by writing.'
'You are going around in circles…'
'Covered – uncovered'
Watch 'A Man Asleep' by Georges Perec and read!
Józef Robakowski's film 'Closer – Farther'
Walking along the Möbius Strip
BWA Gallery, Kielce
29.04 - 16.06. 2024
Photo: artist's archive
'A Walk on the Möbius Strip' is a pictorial and photographic narrative about my existence, my emotional entanglement in family histories, and their influence on the development of my artistic practice. Simultaneously, I undertake painting projects, juxtaposing them with photographic and film projects, documenting my life and the integral creative process within it. I reveal previously hidden stories and intertwine them with abstract forms. The exhibition additionally conveys the creation
of my artistic strategy, based on various modifications of the material, such as transforming, replicating, deconstructing, and reconstructing a series of repetitive gestures.
I have been working on the project 'Stories of Everyday Life' for the past three years, photographing myself ('selfies') and everything in front of me at specific intervals with a smartphone camera. I create collages from the resulting photos (each measuring 1 x 1 cm), alternating their arrangement. Based on these modules, I continually expand the structure. I present a story about the passage of time, excerpts of reality, and build sequences of events by democratizing each situation.
I do not create narratives or aestheticize individual frames; I show them in their unaltered form. By cutting and gluing sequences of the present, I reiterate a personal gesture borrowed from the methods of creating painting objects, applying it to film experiences and other media.
I create painting objects from paintings, both mine and those of other artists participating in my activities. I use unaccepted, rejected paintings, or those intentionally created to be destroyed. I transform them into painting material: cutting them into strips, gluing, pressing, or weaving them into new forms. I ensure they are viewed in a condensed and altered form, making them more accepted. Over time, the objects undergo modifications; I incorporate additional elements into them, cut them again, and glue them into new configurations.
I divide the creative process into two stages: the first is the time before psychotherapy, and the second is the time after its completion. Currently, I reveal what
I previously concealed, placing myself at the center of my creative interests. I liken my searches to a permanent journey on the Möbius strip. The further I move forward, the more I return to the beginning, drawing specific circles. Drawing inspiration from early activities and transforming existing concepts into new forms,
I continuously return to the same way of working. I create new objects from unaccepted paintings, increasing their value, and from individual photos and family mementos, I create art objects.
Möbius Strip – a one-sided surface with a boundary, obtained by joining the two opposite edges of a rectangle after twisting it so that pairs of opposite vertices
are identified; a model of the Möbius strip is a rectangular strip of paper, joined end to end after rotating one end by 180°; the Möbius strip is bounded by a single closed curve; cutting the Möbius strip along the centerline does not result in two separate pieces. [1]
i repeat myself
81 º Gallery, Warsaw
22.10 - 26.11.2022
Photo: artist's archive
'I Repeat Myself' is a narrative about me as an artist and the creation of an artistic strategy based on processing, replicating, deconstructing,
and reconstructing a constant and identical gesture. I present painting objects from the series "Fossils" and "Temporary States," created from my painting sketches and unsuccessful, unaccepted paintings, including those of other artists. I cut them into strips, glue, and press them, changing their structure and transforming rejected elements into works of art. Analogous to my painting experiences, I also present a photographic project that records and documents my life, including my creative process. I show excerpts and fragments of reality by assembling them into photographic collages. I do not attribute greater importance to any of the photographed events, rather, by showing one motif next to another, I democratize their significance.
I began working on the project 'Stories of Everyday Life' in the first months of 2020, coinciding with the end of my psychotherapy. I underwent this process to understand and accept myself. Consequently, I felt an enormous need to talk about myself and place myself at the center of my creative pursuits. The project involved collecting records of my ordinary, repetitive activities and minor events; creating collages from slices of reality and snapshots of everyday life. On average, every 15 - 30 minutes, I take two photos with my phone camera: a selfie and everything in front of me.
I create collages from these photos. I do not apply a narrative or aestheticize any frames, focusing on details, here and now.
I objectively depict my life consisting of daily and repetitive activities. I narrate the passage of time by stretching it across the plane, making
the journey into my memory possible. Viewing the multiplied photos, I can relive my life once again. /Weronika Teplicka/
Openning: 15.07.2022, 6 p.m.
Artist is present: 15, 16, 17.07 / 5, 6, 7.08 / 19, 20, 21.08
Finissage: 28.08, 4 p.m.
Curated by Joanna Gwiazda
Wozownia Art Gallery, Toruń
boredom
Photo: artist's archive
"Drapieżne serca"
Openning: 16 .09.2022, 6 p.m.
Curators: Emilia Orzechowska, Katarzyna Swinarska, Alina Żemojdzin
Artists: Angelika Fojtuch, Edyta Hul, Agata Królak, Honorata Martin, Agata Nowosielska, Katarzyna Pastuszak, Anna Reinert, Grażyna Rigall, Anna Steller, Katarzyna Swinarska, Weronika Teplicka, Ania Witkowska, Agata Zbylut, Alina Żemojdzin
Centrum Sztuki Galeria EL w Elblągu
drapieżne serca
collective exhibition
Photo: artist's archive
