Opened by Patrycja Rup, curator and art manager. "You see nothing until you have the metaphor to see it." - James Gleick, Chaos: Making a New Science
The exhibition Beyond the Fragile Geometry of Space is based on a dialogue between the paintings of Polish artist Tomasz Piars and the work of Hungarian sculptor Antal Plank, exploring the intricate relationships between abstract geometric objects, which the artists analyse along aesthetic forms and artistic strategies, spanning decades and continents. Geometry becomes a metaphor.
In Tomasz Piars' work, lines, angles, shapes and forms combine to form a multi-level exercise in painting strategy that reveals the bare structure of each piece. The Black Crystals series consists of works that display accumulated mysterious crystal shapes. While these details from different time dimensions, traditions and visual systems occur on the same surface, they do not strive for integrity, yet they emphasize each other's sharpness and variety. The paintings suggest a multidimensional structure, hidden spaces where boundaries do not create new parts by mere chance. As they draw liberally from the history of art and recycle different moments in history, they can even be interpreted as a kind of pictorial response to Deleuze's concept of the crystal image, whereby time is divided into the passing present and the preserved past. The past is like a virtual world in which we are immersed, trying to access the memories hidden within it and refresh them in the form of memory images. In Piars' series, we find the coexistence of different aspects of the past.
Antal Plank's minimalist, bright sculptures are an attempt to find a new, perfect form, while drawing attention to the materiality of the work. Despite the fact that he used exceptionally few materials and stripped them down to the foundations of geometric abstraction, he retained the sculptures' characteristic lightness and fluidity. The sublimated futuristic structures seem to belong to the world of science and technology, but in fact they are forms inspired by nature. The sculptures take on crystal-like forms, resembling large origami or futuristic machines. They are made up of fragments arranged by lines, influenced by different vectors and forces. While internal tension is created, the artist strives to maintain this state while maintaining balance. His works evoke a sense of movement while expressing the risk of losing balance, reflecting the ever-changing state of things in our environment. Plastic as the main material emphasises the integrity of form, but its physical properties suggest fragility and instability.
The exhibition analyses inherited and well-accepted metaphors of geometric abstraction. Both artists carefully observe the reality around them, sensing the tension and flow of energy in order to express it through their dynamic creations. The works on display ask which stories and narratives are appropriate to help understand the works. On the other hand, what stories do the works tell? What narratives lie between the fragmented pieces? The artwork forces us to reconstruct these stories, to find them again in the condensed discourse.
* The title is inspired by the fictional book of the fictional character in Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now (1973).
