Zachęta Project Room

curator: Julia Harasimowicz
cooperation: Paulina Mirowska, Szczęsny Szuwar
special thanks: Czesława Gendka family

Paulina Włostowska had the opportunity to become acquainted with the works of her late neighbour, the local artist Czesław Gendek — a painter who created works in various techniques and who was involved with applied graphics, exhibitions and advertising. The Gendek family studio housed both the unfinished works of the artist and the tools of his everyday craft. Włostowska never met the painter personally, so she only came across an orphaned space and objects that had lost their meaning and function. It was these that became the starting point for spatial and drawing ruminations, and on their basis — painting and photographic activities.

Artistic analysis of the encountered objects allowed Włostowska to give them new meanings. Włostowska sees left-over objects, cuttings and remnants primarily as abstract forms. Inspired by the paper and foil constructions that are a mystery to her, she creates her own abstract juxtapositions. She also analyses the very properties of materials and their often-ephemeral character — created objects usually disintegrate under pressure and over time. She creates a kind of documentation — she photographs the most delicate elements and then transfers them to a painting or illustration. The gallery space arranged by the artist underlines her interest in materiality. The museumlike display cases and frames enclose individual objects and become art exhibits themselves.

Włostowska is fascinated by the issue of archiving, so she carefully analyses the gradual disappearance of the material traces of an artist. She plays with the convention of the collection, by means of which she shows us the situation in which she found herself. In the space of the gallery, she creates a collection of found objects , but also handcrafted ‘souvenirs’ enclosed in characteristic display cases. Objects abstracted from the context become mysterious. The artist draws attention to the dual character of archives. On one hand, it is a kind of recording of memory and heritage, and on the other hand, it always collects only fragments from the space of someone's biography, never able to grasp the whole.

Paulina Włostowska (born 1987) — graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, receiving a diploma from the Faculty of Painting in Jarosław Modzelewski’s studio. Member of the Jest Group. She creates paintings, objects, graphics, murals, photographs and zines.