Magdalena Parnasow-Kujawa | Images chipped    

Magdalena Parnasow-Kujawa | Images chipped    

Gallery Design, 9 Wolnica Str.
Duration of exhibition: 27.11.2024-29.12.2024
Opening: 10.12.2024, 18:00                                      

We oscillate between multiplicity, complexity, speed, diversity and fragmentation. The question arises: what form does contemporary image perception take, in what space does the image function and on what level do we encounter it? When we look, do we actually see? Do we care about seeing?

The presented paintings were made using my own technique on metal plates. They have lenses placed on their surface, which, on the one hand, in accordance with their intended purpose, zoom in and enlarge the image, taking it into three-dimensional space – but on the other hand, they interfere with direct visual contact with it. Thanks to this, the image becomes non-obvious. It is superimposed with reflections of the surroundings, corresponding to the original matrix on which it was made. The accumulating lenses cause the form to be broken down, the image to be fragmentary and blurred. The image becomes unavailable. It cannot be seen in its entirety, it is only available in pieces. By breaking it is hidden. It seems visible, but its reception is distorted. The image is exposed and hidden at the same time. The resulting divisions create an illusion of order. They are supposed to give the impression of “even, repeatable”. In reality, every lens is curved, verticals are not verticals, horizontals are not horizontals. The image ceases to be a subject, it has no weight, it turns out to be only a contribution to the process, emphasizing the very fact of looking.

Magdalena Parnasow-Kujawa ― born on August 8, 1975 in Poznan. She graduated with honors from the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan, at the Faculty of Art Education in two fields: art critic and promoter, and art educator. She also studied at the Faculty of Graphics of the same university. She graduated with honors in graphic arts and easel painting. Since 2003, she has been working at the Magdalena Abakanowicz University of the Arts Poznan.