Marcin Zawicki’s diegesis peri tes akinetes physeos1
There is also the intention, which hurts
Because it prefers to become than to rot
Still life on the table
Which is to live forever
Jacek Kaczmarski2
In June, the former submarine assembly hall in Gdańsk, known as Montownia, was reopened to the public, revealing its historic charm. The vast renovated space now hosts a va- riety of eateries. Suspended above them is Marcin Zawicki’s art installation, “Bloop.” Its name alludes to a mysterious so- und detected in the Pacific in 1997. During a casual chat with a specialist involved in the hall’s refurbishment, I mentioned I’d been commissioned to pen a critique on Marcin Zawicki, who recently received the Kazimierz Ostrowski Memorial Pri- ze. Unexpectedly, the specialist, Mr. Michał M., said he’d seen the assembly of what he described as “a massive sea creatu- re” – Zawicki’s piece. When quizzed about his perception of the artwork, he confessed he hadn’t realized it was an art piece at all. Yet, he found it captivating and thought it com- plemented the hall’s ambiance perfectly.
This chance conversation made me ponder a persistent issue: How can we discuss and critique art in a way that not only resonates with art connoisseurs but also enga- ges those outside the art world, like Mr. M? How can art transcend gallery walls and captivate a diverse audience? Perhaps it’s through the kind of art Marcin Zawicki creates. Critics like Stach Szabłowski believe that Zawicki’s art do- esn’t confront the pressing issues of our time3, nor does it delve into political or societal critique. However, it has a unique charm that enchants its viewers4. And perhaps that’s the es- sence of Zawicki’s work. It doesn’t seek to constantly inno- vate or challenge societal norms. Instead, Zawicki remains true to his craft, painting still lifes and crafting his versions of imagined realities, which remain at the heart of his artistic endeavors.
At first glance, still life, deeply rooted in art history, may appear to be merely a topic of historical interest or an academic pursuit. However, Marcin Zawicki breathes new life into this genre, unveiling fresh aesthetic and interpreti- ve facets, as well as both formal and decorative elements. The artist crafts his mock-ups predominantly from synthetic items, more commonly known as plastic5. Through his pa- intings, he revitalizes discarded remnants of our modern civilization, transforming detested and overlooked plastic waste into timeless art pieces. These creations are not only visually captivating with their vivid colors and intriguing in- terplay of light but also prompt deeper reflections on the state of our civilization. One might argue that the use of synthetic materials feels unnatural or even lifeless, but Za- wicki’s art suggests otherwise. After all, plastic has nothing to do with nature; it is completely artificial. 6But is pure na- ture possible today? Only in utopias. It is hard to imagine giving up the achievements of medicine, running water and sewage systems, electricity, returning to pedestrian communication only, etc. We will not give up plastic, which has become an integral part of culture for good, co-creating nature-culture, and becoming a sign of our times.7 One should agree here with Marta Smolińska’s statement that: What was considered the advantages of plastic – durability and per- manence – have become with time a great insoluble problem of humanity, but over time this material has gained individuali- ty and history, and even a soul, which they bring out in their realizations by artists such as Zawicki.8 On the other hand, terrified by the flood of artificial materials, we have forgot- ten how many realities have been created in the history of man, so to speak, artificial worlds. If Marcin Zawicki painted vedutas or genre scenes during rural field work at the foot of castles, would we say that he paints artificial realities? And yet: The history of human civilization is – to a greater or lesser extent – the history of the city. The city is the human’s most artificial environment, the antithesis of nature.9 So let the artists create their own worlds, born in their imagination, let them work in any matter. And if they discover the secret of shaping a form resistant to time, their art will not pass away along with the current fashion and trends created by opinion-forming circles.
Marcin Zawicki (born in 1985), born in Szczecin, inha- bitant of Gdańsk by choice.10 Hailing from port cities, he embodies their spirit of openness to distant horizons and a thirst to understand the world’s diversity. Though the al- lure of the sea ran in his blood, thanks to his sailor father, he was beckoned by the world of art. Sculpture initially caught his eye, but painting ultimately claimed his heart. Nonetheless, his inclination toward sculpture still seems to influence his painting techniques, driving his quest for the perfect final visual effect.
He completed his education at the State Secondary Scho- ol of Fine Arts in Szczecin, later pursuing his degree at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk, where he graduated in 2010 under the guidance of Prof. Teresa Miszkin. Today, he stands as a professor at the very institution that shaped him.
Reflecting on his formative years, he fondly recalls being enthralled by the rave aesthetics prevalent in Szczecin, a style heavily influenced by imports and media from the West, par- ticularly the techno beats emanating from neighboring Berlin. The visual flair of this movement during the cusp of the 90s and 2000s was a riot of colors: a kaleidoscopic collage of influences, trance-infused surrealism, punctuated by the era’s initial forays into 3D rendering. He speaks of the mesmerizing worlds in the psychedelic visuals of “Dune” or Marusha’s videos – an unapo- logetically vibrant and direct aesthetic without any restraints.11 This period could be summed up with the words of Jacek Kaczmarski from the so ng “Postmodernism”:
All fashions, all styles
They are just as beautiful – that’s it Or, if you like, equally hideous
No consequences to it.12
Intense color, light and a definite form still accompany the painter. However, he has freed himself from the post- modern madness of mediocrity. For if everything in artistic activities were equally good, it would simply be mediocre. We could not value anything in art. And yet we still do.
Out of admiration for the fabulously colorful decade of the 1990s, a riot of colors, forms and lights that was dif- ficult to tame13, Zawicki then decided to enter into a dialogue with reproduction and representation. The idea was simple – to present motifs known from the classics of European pa- inting, such as Dutch still lifes, in a form similar to the poly- mer inhabitants of an amusement park. 14Interestingly, both referring to “Vanitas“ (1630) by Pieter Claesz15, as well as in “The Descent from the Cross” (ca. 1435-1440) by Rogier van der Weyden16, Zawicki achieved an effect reminiscent of the ceramic works of the famous Italian della family They do. As if subconsciously, even against himself, he repeated the wordsof Zbigniew Herbert:
I call you Old Masters in times of doubt17
The artist’s sculptural tendencies, though subtle, are palpable in his paintings, predominantly crafted with oil on canvas. Reflecting on his early works, it was during that period he recognized the profound joy he derived from cap- turing fragments of the world onto canvas. This realization propelled him to search for a theoretical foundation for his painting. Yet, when theory fell short of providing fulfilling answers, Zawicki chose to rely on his intuition, a compass that hasn’t steered him wrong. It’s noteworthy to mention that his artistry remains deeply anchored in reality, dra- wing inspiration from models that represent the intricate microcosms of still life.18
Marcin Zawicki creates series of images without giving titles to individual works. This makes it necessary to re- fer to the whole cycle and makes it difficult to operate on the specifics if we wanted to analyze individual canvases. But that’s the creator’s right. The aforementioned cycles, to name the most important, are: Hollow Art (2010), Wun- derkamera (2012), The Fall (2012), Ergot (2014), Chorography (2015), Something Strange here comes closer (2016), Homoi- omeries (2016), Gestures (2017), Dies Irae (2018), Decayed little planet, (2019).19 Freed from the baggage of tradition, although attached to traditional techniques and crafts- manship, following his own intuition, the painter draws his own conclusions and creates his own versions of reality. The key series of paintings, from which the artist only fol- lows his own path, are: “The Fall” and “Chorography”. It is in them that mock-ups come to the fore as independent works forming a whole together with canvases and precise drawings.20 Marta Smolińska in “The Fall” senses the lurking horror, depicted by the painter in the presented processes of integration of nature and culture, which take place in the background of the present civilization. At the same time, he diagnoses in a sentimentally ironic way our great collective fear of death and destruction, because the garbage, and even more so the toys from childhood, in the Polish colorful and plastic 1990s, exorcise the end.21 Ewa Toniak, who deals more deeply with Zawicki’s work, draws attention to the objects of the artist’s interests: He is interested in objects marked with particular emotionality, children’s toys, which by definition, and not only because of the impermanence of the material (e.g. plastic), quickly go out of circulation. (…) Zawicki’s studio is reminiscent of Mannerist “ wundercameras “, cabinets of curiosities… (…) Painted extremely efficiently, huge canvases with shimmering seductive surfaces, mocking “cheesy splen- dor and cheap imitation of a «work of art»” – as the author himself describes his paintings – today can be perceived as curiosities.22
“Chorography”, realized in the likeness of a scientific description of reality, blurs the boundaries between docu- mentary and fiction.23 Formally, the artist refers here pri- marily to the aesthetics of 17th-century treatises on biol- ogy and geography. The author himself says: I would like the recipient to believe to some extent in a kind of quasi-scientific systematization of reality created by me, so that, as in the cin- ema, they could discover a fragment of the world existing only in my imagination.24 And so it still is. In subsequent cycles, Marcin Zawicki constantly presents new versions of the reali- ties he constructs and transfers them to canvases. Eventually they take the form of a still life. Marcin Zawicki’s artistry is epitomized by his audacious use of color: vibrant, expressive, and bold. His handling of light varies, sometimes evoking the soft diffusion of sun filtering through water, and at other times, it’s sharp and blinding, akin to sunlight glinting off a polished surface. His paintings draw you in with their sheer beauty, allowing viewers to simply en- joy without over-analyzing the techniques or the artist’s inten- tions. While at first glance, the depicted worlds might seem like fantastical realms distant from our reality, this assumption is mistaken. These canvases capture our world — wonderously vivid and, simultaneously, stark in its truths.
1. InPolish:MarcinZawicki’sTaleofStillLife.ThepartlyGreek- sounding title is a nod to terms taken from classical languages so eagerly used by scholars and artists, including Marcin Zawicki . It seems that the more these languages are eliminated from teaching, the more willingly words are borrowed from them to impress the little people. At this point, I would like to thank prof. dr hab. Bogusław Burliga, an excellent Hellenist from the University of Gdańsk.
2. Still life, music and words by Jacek Kaczmarski, album: Dried Streams, 2012.
3. S. Szablowski (2016), A non-existing-yet-represented garden, or the presence of painting in the paintings of Marcin Zawicki, in: M. Zawicki (2016) Something strange comes this way, page 3, exhibition catalogue, Miejski osrodek sztuki, BWA Gallery, Gorzow wielkopolski, Poland
4. Cf. ibidem, p. 4.
5. E. Toniak, The Fall, in: Marcin Zawicki The Fall, Sopot 2013, exhibition 2012, p. 15.
6. M. Smolińska, Plastic – new nature: Life in plastic, it’s fantastic?, „Visual Communication”, 07-08. 2017, Poznań, p. 14.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibidem, p. 12.9. L. Mrozewicz, Universal History. Antiquity, Poznań 2001, p. 23; cf. MU Mazurczak, City in the painting landscape of the 15th century, Lublin 2004, pp. 8-12.
10. Biographical information was taken from: M. Zawicki, Self- reflection, Gdańsk 2021; Author’s conversations with Marcin Zawicki, Gdańsk VI-VII 2023.
11. M. Zawicki, Self-reflection, … p. 51.
12. Postmodernism, music and words by Jacek Kaczmarski, album: Source, 2012.
13. M. Zawicki, Self-reflection, … p. 53. 14. ibid.15. Claesz, Pieter, in: R. Genaille, Encyclopedia of Flemish and Dutch painting, update, additions and new entries M. Monkiewicz, A. Ziemba, Warsaw 2001, pp. 81-83.
16. S. Kemperdick, Rogier van der Weyden 1399/1400-1464, Keulen 1999, p. 13.
17. Z. Herbert, Former Masters, in: Report from the besieged city and other poems, Wrocław 1992, p. 18
KATALOG_DRUK_13.09_Zawicki_M_final.indd
18. M. Zawicki, Self-reflection…, p. 57.
19. Chronology according to: M. Zawicki, Self-reflection…, p. 108.
20. Ibidem, pp. 57, 59, 61; G. Gawlik, From Wondercamera
to Chorography, in: Marcin Zawicki,Chorografia, Zielona Góra 2015, p.80.21. M. Smolińska, op.cit ., p. 14.
22. E. Toniak, The Fall, in: Marcin Zawicki, The Fall, Sopot 2013, exhibition 2012, pp. 19, 21.
23. Eadem, Colonizers of Imagination, in: Marcin Zawicki, Chorography…, p. 11.
24. Cited in: E. Toniak, Colonizers of Imagination, in: Marcin Zawicki, Chorography…, pp. 11-12; G. Gawlik, op. cit., p. 77.