Untitled (Open Wide)

Piotr Uklański

  • type of object: installation
  • date: 2012
  • dimensions: 650 x 1067 cm
  • inventory No.: RZ-126
  • image licensed under: CC BY-SA

Piotr Uklański operates in various media and also employs the tactic of appropriating existing works. He is interested in the schematic images present in mass culture. The artist’s rich oeuvre also includes ceramics and textiles. These include the gigantic textile sculpture Untitled (Open Wide), which was presented during the artist’s solo exhibition in Zachęta (2012/2013). The stylised silhouettes of trees, whose twisting branches seem to turn into blood vessels, intertwine with lace-like shapes reminiscent of cells or micro-organisms. The biomorphic sculpture resembles a mouth wide open with a visible uvula. The artist indicated that this could mark a hostile takeover — the appropriation of textiles, a field of art traditionally associated with women. At the same time, he claimed to be continuing the work of his mother, who designed and embroidered church vestments. This piece can therefore be interpreted in the context of challenging the clear division between masculine and feminine in culture.


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