We have grown accustomed to the term "securities" (papiery wartościowe). We know what they are. Yet, when we think: "valuable paper" (wartościowy papier), we lose our composure and no longer know. Can paper, in fact, be valuable in itself? It depends. The cellulose pulp from which paper is made is nothing of value—at least as long as the raw material is available. Paper production has its own convoluted history. The history of paper is not clean. Usually, however, it does not leave a visible mark on the paper itself. After all, paper is used to wipe something clean. Therefore, it should be clean to begin with. A clean paper napkin, a paper towel. Wrapping something in paper protects the object from dirt. Yet much is imprinted on paper; it easily absorbs liquids and readily bears traces. It is difficult to erase something once written on paper. Paper likes to remember. So fragile, flammable, and yet so vindictive in its memory.
We chose this title as a slogan to complement a certain collision. A collision between an object—a one-to-one scale reproduction of the so-called "Maluch" (the Fiat 126p)—and a wall, a pillar, a corner. The Fiat 126p was itself an illustration of failure. Too small, too cramped, poorly made, dangerous. The antithesis of what a car should be. A joke, a mean prank, a trick. In Dominik Stanisławski’s installation, this joke becomes monumental. It becomes exactly what the "Maluch" was in its deepest essence: an illustration of a crash, a collision, and a failure. The installation Fatal Imitation fills almost the entire space of o/b/c/y. Orbiting around it are a painting by Rafał Bujnowski, objects by Sławomir Pawszak, and a mask by Przemek Branas.
From a distance, Rafał Bujnowski’s painting (it is difficult to find the right distance from it, but let us try) seems to look like a thick black line. A great minus sign. Approaching it, we see the material. The line is painted on a paper towel—on clean paper that, under the artist's brush, absorbed black paint and dirty water. The painting shows a horizon line. The collision of water and sky. A seaside landscape painted in black and white, dirty water rubbed into a paper towel.
Sławomir Pawszak’s paintings only seemingly look like the surfaces of the moon or an alien, unidentified planet reproduced on glossy paper. In reality, they are porcelain objects. Delicate and fragile. These images deceive the viewer's eye on many levels. At times they look like photographic negatives, at others like imprints. Sometimes they are flat, sometimes convex. They are reliefs, and thus also sculptures. The porcelain seems to be paper. The relief resembles a drawing. The image appears like a long-unseen record covered with layers of dust, just a moment after it has been blown away. For a second, the eye adapts. It needs time to recognize what it sees.
Przemek Branas’s mask is an armor built from papier-mâché. A screen for viewing a solar eclipse. In place of the eyes, it has dark lenses that protect the sight from blindness. A solar eclipse is a moment when the sun is not visible because it is covered, yet we want to watch this apparent absence. An absence that we want to see and the viewing of which may, moreover, harm us—hence we must arm and protect ourselves against it. We want to watch, and watching carries consequences. Przemek Branas's mask seems to protect against the disastrous consequences of viewing an absence, yet considering how rare a solar eclipse is, it mostly demands to be viewed itself. Thus, it becomes an idol, a ritual mask. It can be worn only in one special moment of transformation. It gives its wearer the power of sight, grants them power, and prevents blindness. While at rest, it carries enchanted power within itself and serves as a reminder through its appearance.
Are these papers valuable? Where are the values of these objects hidden? Have they been wrapped? Are these wrappings, or the things themselves? What meanings are contained within these delicate armors and imprints? Can armor be delicate and fragile? What does such armor then become?
Anna Maria Karczmarska
Artist:
Przemek Branas, Rafał Bujnowski, Sławomir Pawszak, Dominik Stanisławski
Curators:
Anna Maria Karczmarska, Mikołaj Małek
