Jan Dobkowski. Titanic

The illustrated publication with a critique written by Professor Waldemar Baraniewski accompanies the exhibition Jan Dobkowski \"Titanic\". The exhibition, specially prepared for the aTAK Gallery is a presentation of his latest series entitled \"Titanic\", comprising eighteen large-format paintings. The title of this series refers to the legendary ship Titanic, a symbol of modern technology at the beginning of the 20th century, which as a result of its crashing into an iceberg sank in the middle of the Atlantic in 1912. These black and grey works, painted with considerable creative discipline, are a continuation of the formal experiments by an artist whose paintings are most often built up by means of linear-organic compositions. The Titanic series is a continuation of the artist's creative quests expressed in such earlier series as \"Threnodies\", \"Ocean\" and \"Universum\". The most important issue examined by the artist in the \"Titanic\" series is man\'s powerlessness in the face of the elements and nature. The enormous, unpredictable power of the universe, in the face of which man, as just one weak particle of the whole, remains helpless, is a subject that for many years has been one of the artist\'s abiding interests. The premiere of this mysterious and deeply reflective series of paintings may awake in viewers associations on the subject of all being vanity. Splendidly painted, these works are intended to encourage quiet contemplation and provide visual delights.