A BIT BLOODY, A BIT DARK, A BIT GENTLE EXHIBITION. A solo exhibition of Mateusz Blaczek

Event date: 21.09.2023 - 17:00

Opening: Thursday, 21 September 2023, 7 p.m.
Open until: Friday, 27 October 2023

ArtBrut Gallery
& Studio for Socio-Cultural Inclusion
46A/102 Ruska Street, Wrocław

Exibition Artistic Mentor: Dominik Podsiadły
Producer: Maja Bernaczek

 

Mateusz Blaczek is a young, very interesting, Wrocław-based artist who has been associated with the ArtBrut Gallery & Studio for less than three years. His works show his fascination with the world of technology, electronic equipment, digitisation and computer games. He is the author of numerous drawings depicting technical diagrams, electronic circuits or drawings of computer games he has designed. These are hundreds of A4 or notebook pages outlined with pencil or pen in a unique, individual style, often combined by the author with a stapler to form characteristic 'catalogues' and 'folders'. Also notes that fill A5 and A4 notebooks. The artist also creates small objects and constructions made of technical and electronic elements, fragments of mobile phones, CDs and DVD covers, and electrical wires. So far, the artist has participated in group exhibitions prepared by the ArtBrut Gallery & Studio, including, among others: BEYOND TABOO VIII. THE END AND THE BEGINNING in 2021, BEYOND THE TABU IX. THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE RICH in 2022 and FIGHTS PUNCHES – AN EXHIBITION COVERING LITERARY FORMS AND TEXTUAL WORKS IN ART BRUT AND OUTSIDER ART in 2023. The current exhibition will present a selection of works from the artist's previous projects, as well as works prepared specially for the exhibition.

 

CURATOR'S TEXT / Dominik Podsiadły

A BIT BLOODY, A BIT DARK, A BIT GENTLE EXHIBITION at ArtBrut Gallery is an invitation to explore the process of image formation in the imagination of Mateusz Blaczek. His work is a meeting and interpenetration of areas throughout contemporary visual reality. The artist invites us into the world of dynamic assemblages, graphic collages, and he opens up a series of notebooks full of pencil drawings depicting game interfaces or computer system stories. The works are filled with profound emotions, with non-obvious associations bearing seemingly bizarre but highly apt titles. The exhibition will also feature a series of objects created from mysterious and diverse objects wrapped in adhesive tape or aluminium foil. Blaczek's works are full of intense associative contrasts and non-standard thinking about form.

These immaterial (sic!) but highly evocative works evoke images of something sometimes familiar but also, on further reflection, unfamiliar, something timeless as if locked in a meditative tranquillity but at the same time terrifying.

Their unsettling titles act as keys to open up deeper layers of interpretation, where each viewer can find his or her own experiences and reflections. The artist's works are an invitation to contemplation and to discover one's own cognitive limits. Mateusz Blaczek's artworks also force us to reflect on the dynamic development of technology and the impact it exerts on our lives and culture. His unconventional approach to art forces us to think about the essence of imagination and its role in our lives. Thanks to Mateusz, we have the opportunity to see if we, too, dare to look at the world not only through the prism of reality but also through the prism of what is hidden in our minds and our hearts.

 

The exhibition has been organized within a public task entitled: RUNNING ARTBRUT GALLERY AND STUDIO FOR SOCIO-CULTURAL INCLUSION FOR PERSONS WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES AND MENTAL DISORDERS IN 2023 co-financed by the Municipality of Wroclaw

Promotional materials

A BIT BLOODY, A BIT DARK, A BIT GENTLE EXHIBITION. A solo exhibition of Mateusz Blaczek - poster