Opening 01.09.2011, 6 p.m.

BEAUTY OF THE WORLD IN ELŻBIETA DZIKOWSKA'S PAINTING OF PURE FORM

Once upon a time, a puzzling discovery was made. It turned out that some painters' and sculptors' ideas, seemingly quite autonomous from the surrounding world, were found to be reflected in various structures revealed under very high microscopic enlargement, observed from a bird's-eye view or seen through a telescope in space. One might accuse the painters of plagiarism. But these similarities arose from the artists' own observation of nature as well as the logic behind the development of painting and sculpture. There is, however, another possibility. Modern painting has enhanced our sensitivity to the unexpected and unexpectedly beautiful images of the micro- and macrocosm, and owing to the invention of photography we have become connoisseurs of images once unavailable to our ancestors.
ELŻBIETA DZIKOWSKA PAINTS PICTURES USING HER CAMERA. THE SUBSTITUTION OR IMITATION OF PAINTINGS HAS A LONG TRADITION IN PHOTOGRAPHY. SPECIAL TECHNIQUES, A SORT OF SECONDARY PROCESSING, HAVE EVEN BEEN EMPLOYED TO CREATE PHOTOGRAPHIC PAINTING. THESE OPERATIONS HAVE NOT ONLY RELIED ON PHOTOS THEMSELVES, OFTEN TAKEN WITH SPECIALISED LENSES, BUT ALSO ON THE REWORKING OF THE PRINTS AND NEGATIVES WITH SPECIALLY PREPARED EMULSIONS. THE SIMPLEST TECHNIQUE OF PHOTOGRAPHIC PAINTING INVOLVES MODIFICATION OF THE DEPTH OF SHARPNESS AND INTENSITY OF CONTRAST. BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY HAS PERFORMED ALL SORTS OF EXPERIMENTS TO FINALLY CHOOSE PURE BROMINE. AS WŁADYSŁAW TATARKIEWICZ RIGHTLY NOTED, PHOTOGRAPHY IS DISTINGUISHED FROM OTHER ARTS BY ITS BEING MOMENTARY. NO OTHER IMAGING METHODS HAD PROVIDED THIS FEATURE.
MOMENTARINESS IS BOTH A BLESSING, AND A CURSE. ARGUABLY, OVER THE CENTURY THE ARTISTIC ACTIVITY OF MANY PHOTOGRAPHERS HAS BEEN FOCUSED EITHER TO EXPLOIT OR TO CONCEAL THIS MOMENTARINESS. THERE USED TO BE ONE MORE ASPECT OF PAINTING THAT STIRRED PHOTOGRAPHERS' AND INVENTORS' IMAGINATION - THE COLOUR. IT LONG REMAINED SOMETHING PHOTOGRAPHERS COULD ONLY DREAM OF. COLOUR AND PAINTING FORM A UNITY, AND WITHOUT COLOUR PHOTOGRAPHERS COULD NOT FULFIL THEIR ASPIRATION OF ABOLISHING THE PRIMACY OF PAINTING.
Colour photography had some limitations up to the 1950s, but soon afterwards this barrier was finally overcome, as predicted by Stanisław Witkiewicz, a few decades before. Today, colour photos are commonplace and full benefits are taken from this improvement. As seen at the exhibition of Elżbieta Dzikowska's works, photography may assume some features of painting, while remaining photography. Just as paintings have taken on photographic traits without ceasing to be paintings (e.g. Rafał Malczewski's hyperrealism and a totally different American hyperrealism or 'post-photographic' paintings by Zbigniew Karpiński). Painters were very quick, by the way, in incorporating photography into their workshops as a useful aid in precise rendering of movement, whether of a human or a horse for that matter. Walt Disney's cartoons, perfectly imitating movement, could not be made but for momentary photography. The aid of photographs was also used by the authors of Panorama Racławicka.
BUT E. DZIKOWSKA PROTECTS HER PHOTOGRAPHY, OR RATHER PHOTOGRAPHIC PAINTING, AGAINST THIS SORT OF DYNAMISM. HER PHOTOGRAPHY IS MONUMENTAL RATHER THAN MOMENTARY. THIS MONUMENTALITY DOES NOT RESULT FROM A SIMPLE EFFECT OF SCALE, A SIZE OF A SUBJECT OR A PHOTOGRAM. THE POINT IS TO ADJUST PROPORTIONS OF PARTICULAR ELEMENTS OF THE IMAGE COMPOSITION IN SUCH A WAY AS TO MAKE THE SPECTATOR FEEL SURROUNDED BY THE SETTING DEPICTED IN THE PHOTO. WE ENTER THAT LANDSCAPE ENCOURAGED BY ITS BEAUTY. THEN WE CEASE TO PERCEIVE THE BORDERS OF THE IMAGE, ALTHOUGH IT IS OF A RELATIVELY SMALL SIZE, AS IS USUALLY THE CASE. THIS IS AN IMPORTANT AND WELL-STUDIED EFFECT ACHIEVED BY A CAREFUL AND PURPOSEFUL SELECTION OF A FIELD TO BE SHOT, WHICH IS REFERRED TO AS FRAMING. HOWEVER, IN THIS CASE, FRAMING IS BROUGHT TO AN EXTREME OF A KIND. THE AUTHOR'S OBJECTIVE IS NOT TO CAPTURE A SET OF ELEMENTS, A REAL SITE EXISTING SOMEWHERE, WHICH CAN BE LATER VERIFIED. DZIKOWSKA MAKES IMAGES FOR THEIR OWN SAKE AND GUIDES OUR RECEPTION TOWARDS CONTEMPLATION OF THIS VISUAL REPRESENTATION AS AN INDEPENDENT VALUE, UNLINKED TO ANY REAL CONTEXT. OR PERHAPS IT WORKS A DIFFERENT WAY. DEPENDING ON THE DISTANCE FROM WHICH WE LOOK AT THOSE COLOURED RECTANGLES, FIRST WE SEE RECTANGULAR BOARDS PAINTED IN DIFFERENT PATTERNS. THEN, AS WE COME CLOSER, THE FIRST IMPRESSION DISAPPEARS. AS IF THE IMAGE SHED A TRANSPARENT VEIL IT HAS BEEN COVERED WITH. WHEN THE ANGLE AND DISTANCE ARE OPTIMAL, WE FEEL ALMOST INSIDE THE IMAGE, SENSING SOME SPACE SPREADING IN ALL DIRECTION AND SURROUNDING US. THIS IS THE SETTING OF THE PHOTOGRAM.
THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT THESE IMAGES HAVE BEEN COMPOSED TO GIVE US YET ANOTHER IMPRESSION TO SUPPORT THE PREVIOUS ONES. THE NEW SENSITIVITY TO IMAGE ACHIEVED IN THE LATE 20TH CENTURY MANIFESTS ITSELF AS A HIDDEN BASIS FOR THE STRONG EXPERIENCE WE HAVE WHILE WATCHING THE PHOTO. THIS CANNOT BE CONCEALED, ALTHOUGH ONE MIGHT NOT BE AWARE OF IT OR FORGET IT FOR A WHILE. DZIKOWSKA DOES NOT TRY TO HIDE HER AWARENESS OF THE TRADITIONAL AND VISUAL EFFECT. TO THE CONTRARY, SHE BUILDS HER ARTISTIC VISION ON THIS HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF PAINTING TRADITION. WHAT WE DEAL WITH, IS A BIT PERVERSE AND A SOMEWHAT COQUETTISH REFERENCE TO TEXTURE PAINTING, STRUCTURALISM, ART INFORMEL AND FINALLY UNISTIC EFFECTS OF PAINTING, AS WELL AS A SUBTLE PLAY OF THE GEOMETRY OF CROSSING LINES.
The collection of photograms has been entitled "Z całego świata" (From Around the World). It features works from 2008-2011 grouped into cycles: Wariacje na piasek i wiatr (Variations on Sand and Wind) (The Emirates 2008, 10 works); Przykazania na baobabie (Commandments on a Baobab Tree) (Madagascar, 2009, 4 works); Norwegia jest piękna (Norway is beautiful) (2009, 4 works); Tajemnice Tsingi (Secrets of Tsingy) (Madagascar, 2009, 3 works); Patrzę na brzegi rzeki (Looking at the River Banks) (Madagascar, 2009, 10 works), Nad morzem w Dźwirzynie (By the Seaside in Dźwirzyno) (2009, 11 works); Jedź na Filipiny (Go to the Philippines) (2011, 6 works), Biebrza z nieba (Bird's-Eye View on the River Biebrza) (2008, 9 works). To believe or not to believe? Certainly, I know that Elżbieta Dzikowska is an explorer. I know, because I have watched her TV documentaries showing her explorations with Tony Halik, which were a real feast for my eyes and soul in the old communist days. Why the doubt then? Well, it's about the framing. It's a powerful tool in the hands of a photographer. S. Witkiewicz noted that the decision to choose a frame is a criterion to qualify photography as art.
CHOICE OF A FRAME IS ABOUT ZOOMING IN AND OUT, SELECTING A SPECIFIC FRAGMENT OF REALITY TO BE PHOTOGRAPHED, SELECTING A SETTING OR A DETAIL NOTICED IN IT. THERE ARE PROBABLY MORE REASONS WHY DZIKOWSKA CHOOSES THIS OR THAT SETTING, PHOTOGRAPHS THIS OR THAT VIEW AND SELECTS HER FRAME IN THIS OR THAT WAY THAN JUST THE PRIMARY DESIRE TO CREATE PHOTOGRAPHIC PAINTINGS.
Framing has become a leading method and idea in the collection being displayed. It is how Dzikowska compiles her collections where exotic countries and familiar places are just titles to identify particular series. One might think those works have been created by an abstract painter rather than explorer, globetrotter, geographer or geologist. Therefore, knowing my own country as I do, I wonder if those photos were really taken in the Philippines, and not the Masuria region, in the Emirates, and not Łeba. But on the other hand, knowing Elżbieta Dzikowska's life as I do, I could have doubts if what I'm looking at are really the River Biebrza woodlands or the beach in Dźwirzyno.
THE AUTHOR DRAWS US INTO A MUCH BIGGER AND SUBTLER GAME THAN MIGHT BE EXPECTED AT THE BEGINNING. IT IS NO LONGER ABOUT THE MEDIUM OF ART, NOT ABOUT APPEALING VIEWS NOR THE TEXTURE OF ROCKS AND FAINT BEAUTY OF WATER SURFACE RIPPLED BY A BREEZE AND LIT BY THE BEAMS OF THE SETTING SUN, HOWEVER INTERESTING THESE MAY BE? IN FACT, SUCH MONUMENTAL BEAUTY CAN BE FOUND ALMOST EVERYWHERE! WHY THEN DO I FIND IT SO RARELY? WHY DO I SEE IT ONLY IN TRIVIALLY FRAMED VIEWS? I BELIEVE, IT'S BECAUSE I MISS THIS ABILITY TO REFLECT, TO CONTEMPLATE IN QUIET OVER THE BEAUTY OF THE WORLD, WHICH IS SO TYPICAL FOR THE ARTIST. PERHAPS, ONE HAS TO EXPERIENCE AND SEE MUCH ENOUGH TO DISCERN THE WONDER OF EXISTENCE IN ALMOST EVERY SINGLE MOMENT?
One might say, quoting Shakespeare, that for Dzikowska "the whole world is a theatre", a theatre of forms. The theatre of Pure Form seen in Nature. I can imagine when Ms. Dzikowska is walking down a street, hiking in a forest, strolling on a beach, wandering in a desert or travelling by sea, what she sees in front of her are endless arrays of paintings by unknown painters and spatial sculptures perfectly composed by anonymous artists. Every now and then an amazing masterpiece of art unfolds before her eyes, entrancing her with the beauty of its form and colour. Some can be found by bending down over grains of sand and pebbles; others require looking up at the marvel of giant forms wind-carved with great precision from desert sand. Yet another work of art is created by the sun glittering on the pool of water seen from a bird's-eye view.
DOES ELŻBIETA DZIKOWSKA HAVE THE RIGHT TO SIGN UNDER THE PHOTOGRAPHS OF THOSE MAGNIFICENT WORKS OF ART? I THINK SHE DOES, BECAUSE WITHOUT HER EYE AND WITHOUT THE LENSES OF HER CAMERA WE WOULDN'T BE AWARE OF THEIR EXISTENCE. I GUESS, THE ARTIST KNOWS, WHO CREATED THOSE WONDERFUL WORKS, AND TRIES AS HARD AS SHE CAN TO BE A MEDIUM HUMBLY POINTING AT THE TRANSITORY, BUT AT THE SAME TIME ETERNAL BEAUTY. WHY DOES SHE DO IT? I MEAN, WHY DOES SHE SHOW HER PHOTOGRAMS? WELL, PERHAPS IT IS TO SHOW US HOW, WALKING ALONG A STREET, LOOKING AT A POND OR CROSSING GRASSLAND, WE CAN FIND FOR OURSELVES, JUST AS SHE DOES FOR HERSELF, THE BEAUTY OF THE WORLD - THE GREATEST GALLERY OF ART BY THE GREATEST OF CREATORS.
E. Dzikowska's photography is then functional, it serves a cause. It is to make us see, not only look, but to realise the greatness and beauty of His creation.
Is art (just) art or (also) a prayer?

ZBIGNIEW MAKAREWICZ
WROCŁAW, 2011