Current and announcment
playpen — Mateusz Dąbrowski’s exhibition
Na wystawie prezentowane są wybrane dzieła artysty powstałe w latach 2015-2023. Wśród nich są cztery monumentalne instalacje: EMBODIMENT, CATERPILLAR, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING i PLAYPEN, ponadto mniejsze obiekty aktywne, takie jak: CANAPONE, KUREN, HICZ HACZ, AKU oraz prace z serii MIRRORS, BLACK, WAVES.
Moja praca od lat związana jest przede wszystkim z tematem percepcji, a właściwie z jej ograniczeniami, manipulacją wizualną. Dotyczy zjawisk, których nie zauważamy, których nie rozumiemy, a które istnieją i mają wpływ na człowieka i rzeczywistość – Mateusz Dąbrowski
The exhibition is an overview of the artist’s work, divided into three areas of interest, over three consecutive time periods.
The work of 2015-17 is related to perceptual issues. In his works, the artist has tried to draw attention to the fact that humans have a limited capacity to perceive and understand the phenomena around them, and thus do not recognise many of the stimuli that affect their perception of the world, as well as their mental and physical condition. Dąbrowski also relates these issues to problems in interpersonal relationships and communication. He shows that sending a message and receiving it is a process full of understatement and uncertainty, and that human senses often lead us into blind alleys.
The years 2018-20 were a period in which the artist’s work was heavily inspired by astrophysics. In the works created during this time, Dąbrowski seeks analogies between the cosmos and the laws that rule it, and the world as we know it. At the same time, these objects are not illustrations of the principles or assumptions of contemporary physics. These are of a different nature. They draw attention to the process, to the changes taking place everywhere and constantly, both biological and in human mentality, also in the context of the development of civilisation. The unifying element of the works in this area is the movement that conditions all changes.
Recent years are objects that allude to Bauman’s formulation of ‘liquid modernity’. They touch on the themes of man’s tormenting fears and the indefinable discomfort he feels in the area of his psyche. They concern the individual’s sense of insecurity in the face of the fragmentary, discontinuous and episodic nature of the world. They constantly oscillate between instability and the search for balance.
Mateusz Dąbrowski’s sculptural objects, although embedded in a sense of instability, paradoxically refer to a search for balance. By using the phenomenon of movement, he transcends their traditional materiality, thereby heightening the impression of ambiguity inherent in abstract art. It encourages interpretation, provokes reflection and anxiety. It magnetically attracts the viewer’s attention, so important for artists.
Kurator Tomasz Dąbrowski
The vernissage will begin at 6 pm on 12 May 2022. 18:00.
The exhibition will run until 25 June 2023.
Mateusz Dąbrowski (born 1980) is a visual artist working in painting, printmaking, sculpture and spatial objects. In his work, he experiments with materials in the spirit of geometric abstraction and is interested in the materiality of forms. He graduated from the Faculty of Graphic Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. He is a lecturer at this academy and at the Warsaw School of Information Technology. In 2018, he was awarded a postdoctoral degree. Winner of numerous awards: Grand Prix of Young Polish Graphics at the International Graphics Triennial in Kraków (2009), nomination for the Paszport POLITYKI award 2010, distinction at the International Graphics Biennial in Taiwan (2010), award of the Prime Minister for his doctoral thesis (2010), six-month scholarship of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage (2010) and scholarship from the Young Poland Programme (2015).
