"grey-brown" by Wawrzyniec Tokarski

27.05.10 15:50:00

“szaro-brązowa” / “grey-brown”
Wawrzyniec Tokarski
painting exhibition
19.06.2010 – 30.07.2010
Opening: Friday, 18.06.2010, 7.30 p.m.
ggm1, Piwna 27/29
opening hours:Tue-Thu 11-17, Fri-Sat 11-20, Sunday 11-17
Closing: Friday, 30.07.2010, 7.30 p.m.
Concert of improvised music by Arszyn/Duda (Krzysztof Topolski, Tomasz Duda)
ggm1 – Backyard of Art, Piwna 27/29

Wawrzyniec Tokarski's works make us realise how much our reality is full of slogans, mass media and advertising symbols. We are constantly being attacked by loud language of posters, billboards and commercials- the everyday dose of new banalities.
"A reflex of resistance that is a reaction to a pushy commercial or propaganda is a natural defensive reaction to anything that's normally useful or necessary, but overdosed or expired becomes poisonous. The information on a bakery saying “bread” is “banal”, but it can be existentially important as long as it's true and the bread is really there. Unfortunately, because reality never fulfils our expectations, the irritation is included in the nature of things and the temporary vomit reaction is just a matter of time and in the long run, our health as well”
 (W. Tokarski)
When constructing his works Tokarski uses “the language of the enemy”. He uses direct quotes and logotypes to make poster-like, propaganda paintings. We often unconsciously recognise the type of writing and composition, but looking again we see different, new content. The fragmentary nature and illusory incoherence of these paintings provoke us, the affirmation/campaigning gets on our nerves, but the deconstruction of our pop culture reality makes us think a little more and maybe even smile.
"The ability of being “fragmentary” or “inaccurate” is an advantage of  painting. It distinguishes from the “recording” media such us photography or film because of its functionality. Unlike in photography or film, the ambiguity in a painting doesn't have to be an “unclear concrete fact”. It can give the contradictions ability to coexist (pluribus unum), because it doesn't have to choose only one meaning as its point of reference. All of them are equal even those that weren't expected by the author. (W. Tokarski)
In the “szaro-brązowa”/”grey-brown” exhibition we present a set of six works. Some of them contain personal or autobiographical references, some are closed sets of references and some refer to each other. The works are not independent, but they can also be treated this way.

Wawrzyniec Tokarski graduated from Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe (diploma under the supervision of prof. Helmut Dörner'), Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart (prof. K.R.H. Sonderborg and Joseph Kosuth) and Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk.
The artist lives and works in Berlin.
His works can be found in many collections and museums throughout the world.

Opening of "Psycho Pompos"

26.04.10 13:32:00

The exhibition "Psycho Pompos" by Monsieur Zupika and Kinki Texas opened on Friday, 23 April 2010 at ggm1.

Photos by Marek Frankowski

Exhibition by Marek Radke now in Paderborn, in November at ggm1

04.02.10 11:23:00

On 20 January 2010 in Kunstverein Paderborn in Germany Iwona Bigos ( ggm) opened the first part of an exhibition by Marek Radke titled “dort/tam” ( there). Its second part “hier/tu” ( here) will be shown at ggm1 in November 2010. The exhibition is a cooperation of Gdańsk City Gallery (ggm) and  Kunstverein Paderborn.
“dort/tam”, 21 January-14 April 2010, Kunstverein Paderborn
http://www.kunstverein-paderborn.de/