This print is a part of an on-going project called ‘Raw Capitalism’, in which I explore the visual culture of Eastern Europe from the 90s to the present. I use Appropriation as an artistic strategy in order to find the hidden meanings of particular images, which can still be found on the streets of Russian, Polish, Czech towns. These could be old fashioned advertisements, weird handwritten signs for navigation, trade, and advertising services and goods. Using these very basic and even outdated aesthetic landmarks, such visuals often look rude and rather inappropriate, incongruous in the second decade of the 21st century. However, many small-business owners still use them in order to attract customers. In this we find a conflict between old fashioned visuals and new norms of morality established by new generations: the digitally-raised so-called ‘zoomers’. So I am trying to capture a significant change within society. The “Masterpieces” I have mentioned will disappear very soon along with the holders of those old cultures.
This global switching to the New Era could depict a very clear exploration of the streets of the Siberian town — Omsk. A former industrial center and once promising region, it is now one of the most economically depressed towns in Russia. A massive exodus of young people forced central regions of Russia to create the artificial aging of local populations, which made the city look more and more behind the times and ugly. Priady picture is a great example of such a dramatic movement: the source image was found near a small storage where wigs and hairpieces are presented for sale for adult females. The shop itself was established in the basement of an old house, the so-called "Stalinka", a building that forms the area of the Neftyaniki (‘Oilers”) district, which enhances marginality. The image of attractive women, like a doll, seems to invite you in. The way she looks (pretty, by the opinion of owners) brings you to an old concept of female beauty: such a nice face, even childish, with large eyes and unnaturally styled hair remind us of the pre-sexual-revolution era, where women were always second in society.
Here you can see a recording of artistic talk during Online Exhibition "Homework" (Poland, May 2020).
"Priady" was exhibited during Corona Virus restrictions, so the only one possibility to make event in art area was Zoom conference. A group exhibition showing the works of 12 artists (Poland, Russia, Pakistan, GB, Canada, Singapore, Turkey, USA, Ukraine) created as part of the Art History in Practice course lead by curator Natalia Krawczyk at Academy of Fine Arts in Wroclaw, Poland. The projects are based on various artistic strategies from ready mades to finish fetish aesthetics. The final edition consists of a small model of a house where all the re-sized works were located as an elements of interior. Such a non-ordinary and fun way of presenting the artistic ideas creates the possibility to met and talk about contemporary artistic strategies during worldwide Covid-19 lockdown. More information about the project: instagram.com/homework_asp
Installation (15 imprints, serigraphy, 77x59cm each piece).
I took a picture of that old advertisement, then I turned it into a 7-layer hand printed silkscreen. Such a sophisticated technique requires many stages, where you really can not control the final result. The bitmaps overlapping will always create unique patterns and colours, so each imprint will look different. This is the same approach that classic masters of pop-art used in their works.