May 27, 2011 - September 17, 2011
Marek Sobczyk's painting is art at its most sublime. The artist, co-founder of the Warsaw Gruppa, the period's most important art group in Poland, has consistently addressed – in his art as well as theoretical reflection – the issues fundamental to painting, the picture, the artist, and society. Sobczyk deals with ontology, axiology, aesthetics, and metaphysics of art.
And he approaches them with responsibility and intellectual honesty. He is critical, ironic, and subversive; he creates pictures-hypotheses: complex and multi-layer but at the same time specific and universal. The artist's most recent project, whose part will be on view at the aTAK Gallery, is entitled Twice Too Many Pictures [research on the Brain in Poland] Two reflections inform this intriguing phrase and provide a unique insight into reality. The first one is an apparently obvious – although not always clearly formulated – observation concerning the character of contemporary visuality. The overflow of images. The world which supplies images in quantities and at the speed far exceeding human perceptual abilities. To Sobczyk, this process becomes the departure point for the great narrative of his art. The second issue, to which the title's bracketed part refers, concerns social contexts and questions about this particular locale, this country, this nation, this people and their spiritual condition. The probing of this trauma which is our sense of history and our understanding of the present.
Waldemar Baraniewski, exhibition's curator
"Brain's Research in Poland" also involves the probing of the space between the word and the image, the inner perceptual space which never manifests itself fully and consequently remains uncharted. This may concern my brain (the artist's brain), the Onet brain or the Polish brain in Poland (studying and being studied) as far as such generalisation is plausible.
Marek Sobczyk
Sensualism, historical sense and certain pessimism which is inextricably linked to them [...] have let Sobczyk develop an original form of vitalism: not vulgar but precise, almost scientific. [...] "Brain's Research" has elucidated Nietzsche's mysterious thesis that the philosopher is a sublime but so far imperfect being while the artist - although an essentially lower being – has managed to define himself more beautifully and splendidly.
Mateusz Falkowski
The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated catalogue in Polish and English, designed by Marek Sobczyk, with essays by Waldemar Baraniewski, Marek Sobczyk, and Mateusz Falkowski.
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Third Level of Soma-Analysis [Szpocznikow (Female Portrait)],(1), 2009-2011
Third Level of Soma-Analysis [Szpocznikow (Female Portrait)],(1), 2009-2011
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Hysteria Has Little in Common with the Womb (Brain(‘s) Research in Poland - Patricia Highsmith, 2010-2011
Hysteria Has Little in Common with the Womb (Brain(‘s) Research in Poland - Patricia Highsmith, 2010-2011
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The Art Market Has Moved to Asia (Oriental Female Portrait), 2010-2011
The Art Market Has Moved to Asia (Oriental Female Portrait), 2010-2011
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Good Soldier (of the) R(epublic of) P(oland) Saves the Goat, 2010-2011
Good Soldier (of the) R(epublic of) P(oland) Saves the Goat, 2010-2011
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Honjo Shigenaga Deflects an Exploding Shell (Symbolic Portrait of a Hero), 2010-2011
Honjo Shigenaga Deflects an Exploding Shell (Symbolic Portrait of a Hero), 2010-2011
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Virginia Apgar Makes a Living by Catching Cats for Lab Research (Large Female Portrait), 2010-2011
Virginia Apgar Makes a Living by Catching Cats for Lab Research (Large Female Portrait), 2010-2011
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Lina Medina (Female Portrait), 2010-2011
Lina Medina (Female Portrait), 2010-2011
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Case of the Hen-Man [Analysis of F.O.C (Female Portrait)], 2010-2011
Case of the Hen-Man [Analysis of F.O.C (Female Portrait)], 2010-2011
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Little Man‘s Little Body [Brain(‘s) Research in Poland], 2010-2011
Little Man‘s Little Body [Brain(‘s) Research in Poland], 2010-2011
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Good-Natured Elephant Soup [The Kurońs (Family Portrait)], 2009-2011
Good-Natured Elephant Soup [The Kurońs (Family Portrait)], 2009-2011
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Breakfast on the Raft [Furteventura], 2009-2011
Breakfast on the Raft [Furteventura], 2009-2011
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Image-Word [Brain(‘s) Research in Poland], 2009-2011
Image-Word [Brain(‘s) Research in Poland], 2009-2011
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Dr. Gerardo Lozada, Six-Year-Old Lina Medina and Her Eleven-Month Old Son Gerardo (Group Portrait), 2010-2011
Dr. Gerardo Lozada, Six-Year-Old Lina Medina and Her Eleven-Month Old Son Gerardo (Group Portrait), 2010-2011
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Lina Medina (Female Portrait), 2010-2011
Lina Medina (Female Portrait), 2010-2011
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Bauhaus [Design for a Funeral Van], 2009-2011
Bauhaus [Design for a Funeral Van], 2009-2011
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Jugendstill [Krav Maga (Group Male Portrait)], 2009-2011
Jugendstill [Krav Maga (Group Male Portrait)], 2009-2011
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Woman Drinks Water [I Will Not Consider Neo-Colonial Issues with Regard to Myself and My Family, 2009-2011
Woman Drinks Water [I Will Not Consider Neo-Colonial Issues with Regard to Myself and My Family, 2009-2011
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Monument to the Discourse Mother-Form [PomKurKa (Double Female Portrait of the Same Woman)], 2009-2011
Monument to the Discourse Mother-Form [PomKurKa (Double Female Portrait of the Same Woman)], 2009-2011
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Smoking Kills (Portrait of camel), 2010-2011
Smoking Kills (Portrait of camel), 2010-2011
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Absolute Alcohol on the Mexico-United States Border [Under the Volcano], 2009-2011
Absolute Alcohol on the Mexico-United States Border [Under the Volcano], 2009-2011
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An Afghan Relaxes by the Pool in Kabul. The Life of the Afghans Slowly Stabilises. small pictures, 2010-2011
An Afghan Relaxes by the Pool in Kabul. The Life of the Afghans Slowly Stabilises. small pictures, 2010-2011
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1110.0904.20012010. [Solar Tale], 2010-2011
1110.0904.20012010. [Solar Tale], 2010-2011
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Homopol Agniestaś [Brain Heart Genitals (Joined Portrait)], 2009-2011
Homopol Agniestaś [Brain Heart Genitals (Joined Portrait)], 2009-2011
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Munch‘ s Scream [Melancholy (Portrait of the Artist)], 2009-2011
Munch‘ s Scream [Melancholy (Portrait of the Artist)], 2009-2011
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Pornography and Cheeses [Kubica (Portrait in a Racesuit)] after Białoszewski, 2009-2011
Pornography and Cheeses [Kubica (Portrait in a Racesuit)] after Białoszewski, 2009-2011
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Was will das Weib? [Nicolasa puts a question to Freud (Large Female Portrait)], 2010-2011
Was will das Weib? [Nicolasa puts a question to Freud (Large Female Portrait)], 2010-2011
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Large Accelerator Full of Slime Moulds [Hadron Collider], 2009-2011
Large Accelerator Full of Slime Moulds [Hadron Collider], 2009-2011
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Poland Lies Between Germany and Russia [Banners (Portrait of the Characteristic)], 2010-2011
Poland Lies Between Germany and Russia [Banners (Portrait of the Characteristic)], 2010-2011
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Nourishment, Femininity, Death [Anti-Lilith (Large Female Portrait)], 2010-2011
Nourishment, Femininity, Death [Anti-Lilith (Large Female Portrait)], 2010-2011
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Developed Processes of Abstraction [Shacks], 2010-2011
Developed Processes of Abstraction [Shacks], 2010-2011
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Breakfast on the Raft [Manet (Group Portrait)], 2009-2011
Breakfast on the Raft [Manet (Group Portrait)], 2009-2011
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Cyber-Excretion [Mother with a Dead Son, Madonna and Child, Mangha Period Ghosts (Large Triple Female Portrait)], 2009-2011
Cyber-Excretion [Mother with a Dead Son, Madonna and Child, Mangha Period Ghosts (Large Triple Female Portrait)], 2009-2011
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Sign of Zorro [By Making the Sign of Zorro, Santiagi Radically Redefines the Domain of Art; There Are No Innocent Artworks Santiago Zorrosierra's Warning to the Amateurs of Cute Landscapes (Portrait of Zorro Two men and a Woman)], 2009-2011
Sign of Zorro [By Making the Sign of Zorro, Santiagi Radically Redefines the Domain of Art; There Are No Innocent Artworks Santiago Zorrosierra's Warning to the Amateurs of Cute Landscapes (Portrait of Zorro Two men and a Woman)], 2009-2011
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Antiquity [Staffage (Triple Male Portrait with a Horse)], 2010-2011
Antiquity [Staffage (Triple Male Portrait with a Horse)], 2010-2011
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Socrealist Realisation [Cellular Phone for Władysław Strzemiński (portraitof a Place)], 2009-2011
Socrealist Realisation [Cellular Phone for Władysław Strzemiński (portraitof a Place)], 2009-2011
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Laika [Plan for Co-Revolution (Portrait of a Dog)], 2004-2011
Laika [Plan for Co-Revolution (Portrait of a Dog)], 2004-2011
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Speaking the Taliban Language [Awakening], 2009-2011
Speaking the Taliban Language [Awakening], 2009-2011
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