On September 14th, the vernissage of my most significant exhibition to date took place – my doctoral thesis entitled “The Birth of Colors” at the Museum of the Earth in Warsaw.
It is a great honor and privilege to present the exhibition at the Museum of the Earth in Warsaw – a unique place in the city center where you can find space for contemplating nature on the stone blocks around the museum, as well as immersing yourself in the energy of the Earth contained in rocks and minerals – extraordinary museum exhibits. Thanks to the great openness and innovative perspective on the role of the museum by Director Ania Piontek, a multi-layered site-specific exhibition was created, where each element has its assigned meaning, and there is also a synergy building new layers of meaning. The synergy of nature, science, and art.
Can paintings be commented on using descriptions of the processes of shaping the earth, rocks, terrain topography, and geological phenomena? I feel that these scientific descriptions, along with photographs and diagrams, metaphorically best capture the essence of my works. Moreover, reading these descriptions allows me to better understand the processes occurring within me. This parallelism shows that everything is, in some sense, similar to each other. Birth, shaping, deconstruction, dying – all processes occurring in humans fundamentally resemble phenomena occurring in the earth.
Great gratitude for these earthly qualities that I have experienced here and for meetings with all the employees of the Museum, especially with Mr. Krzysztof Maliszewski, who accompanied me in creating part of the exhibition related to minerals. Eight glass display cases around the installation are arranged in the style of a cabinet de curiosité. They contain museum minerals combined with sketches, sculptures, souvenirs, and artifacts, creating an independent visual narrative connected with painting.
“The Birth of Colors” is a stage in my life and creativity where colors gave meanings, helped understand the complex process of life, described states of consciousness and subconsciousness. Their symbolism and archetypal meanings allowed me to dive deep into a universal organism and understand that I am its element in an ongoing process of dying and being born. I am ready to share this story.
Thank you very much for such a large presence at the vernissage! The exhibition runs until December 29th.
I cordially invite you!
Supervisors of the thesis: Professor Dorota Folga-Januszewska and Professor Paweł Nowak
Music for the exhibition: Joanna Halszka Sokołowska
Performance at the vernissage: Joanna Halszka Sokołowska, Aleks Borys, Zosza Szabira, Beata Konarska
Exhibition website: Michał Lehr-Kowalski
Partners: KGHM Polska Miedź, SONY
Patrons: ASP in Warsaw, Stowarzyszenie Autorów ZAiKS, Warsaw Institute for Modern and Contemporary Asian Art Foundation
Media patrons: LABEL Magazine, K MAG
The Birth of Colors project was created as part of a scholarship from the Fundusz Popierania Twórczości ZAiKS and with the support of the Warsaw Institute for Modern and Contemporary Asian Art Foundation.
You can find descriptions of paintings, installation, and exhibits → HERE
