Zachęta – National Gallery of Art

artists: Honza Zamojski, Robert Maciejuk
collaboration on the part of Zachęta: Katarzyna Kołodziej

Robert Maciejuk and Honza Zamojski’s Above and Below exhibition is a culmination of their long-time friendship and artistic collaboration, which has seen a joint book project, Vases, and two exhibitions of Maciejuk’s art curated by Zamojski at Galeria Starter.

Despite formal differences, the two artists have a lot in common. A keen sense of humour and a fair doze of self-irony allow them to both distance themselves from their own work and freely appropriate the work of others. Both employ simple means of expression, operating between the rational, probable and true, on the one hand, and the emotional, sentimental and religious, on the other. Doubts for them are an artistic motivation.

The exhibition presents mostly new works, never previously shown in public, ranging from large-format drawings and oil paintings, through forms in space, to an artist’s book created in collaboration with the art critic Andrzej Kostołowski. In formal terms, the works vary widely but recurring motifs bind the multi-element installation into a cohesive whole. This is a kind of critical dialogue with tradition but also a friendly discussion between two long-time artistic collaborators.