Year 2020. We are in a period of transformation that is taking place on many levels – social, climatic, political, economic and personal. Every person and every community or society cannot be indifferent to these processes. The series “2020” is a record of this important chapter in human history.
The first painting of the series (“Social distancing”) was created in April at the beginning of the lockdown, when we were all separated in our homes, not yet fully understanding what was actually going on.
The sight of masked people aroused fear for their own health and the lives of loved ones. Today, after 3 months, our attitude to the pandemic is transforming. Everyone has learned to live in their own way in these difficult times. In my opinion, the broadly understood “social distancing” has a dual nature – dark and clear.
On the one hand, we were put in a situation of necessity / compulsion of social distancing. Regardless of skin color, age, religion, philosophy of life or political views, every person had to wear a mask and gloves in public spaces. All people on earth – for their own safety and that of others. On the other hand, paradoxically, the mask has become a unifying symbol and an expression of conscious / unconscious mutual concern and responsibility for others. It is a very expressive symbol of those times and probably the first in the world on such a universal scale.
A series of tragic events, a series of human-nature duels. Of course, man always loses. But Nature is also losing.
Fires in Australia, pandemic blockade of people, massive increase in domestic violence, street shootings in the US, economic defeat of the middle class and the poorest, people’s struggles against people for their basic rights, riots and protests #blacklivesmatter, violating the rights of the LGBT + community, violating women’s rights, violating animals rights. The tense political and social situation in Poland, Belarus, Brasil and many other places in the world. Great fires in Siberia. Fires in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest region are the worst in a decade. Wildfires in California. A sharp, record increase in temperature in the Arctic region. Arctic permafrost is melting. Scientists are alarming – the situation of this region has a significant impact on the entire planet.
The series of paintings “2020” and “Trashes” was created during the lock down, in a home space arranged as a studio. The constant presence of all household members, including children immersed in the digital reality of computers and their online relationships distorting their development, gave impetus to thinking about the future of this generation and the future of their planet. Key issues emerged – massive garbage production as the main destroyers of the environment, junk food as the main destroyer of human health.
In contrast, the lock down gave us a metaphorical and painfully real insight into the future devoid of these aberrations. How is it and how could it be.
The clean water of the canals of Venice made it possible for jellyfish – a water touchstone of purity – to flow into them, which is lost in a polluted environment.
In the painting, the jellyfish is shown as a work of art – like flowers in Golden Age Dutch painting (they were so expensive and thus unavailable that only an artistic creation made it possible to interact with them) – because with the current exploitation of the seas and oceans and their pollution with garbage, only a radical change in thinking will protect most species living there from rapid extinction.
“2020” exhibition in Warsaw (12.2020 – still available). Read more.
Additional information:
02.07.2020 The painting “Social distancing” was sold at Desa Unicum auction house. >>.
01.09.2020 The painting “Red river of Norilsk” was sold at Desa Unicum auction house.>>.
