ARTIST

EWA WRÓBEL

DURATION

2007-01-12 – 2007-02-20
Vernissage January 12, 2007 (Friday) hours 18.00
ul. Józefa 22 (entrance from Nowa street)

ABOUT EXHIBITION

From the beginning, in her work, Ewa Wróbel refers to man, his nature, emotions and behaviors. It is him and the world created by him that becomes the subject and basis of the artist’s actions. It is occupied not so much by the realistic world of people as its philosophical and psychological aspects, various kinds of transformations, interactions … “My goals are to pay attention to certain phenomena in the world around us. […] In the sphere of my interests, as before, there are people and their condition in the modern world. ”

The January exhibition at “Nova” is a review of the artist’s recent creative achievements, inspired by the thoughts of Walter Benjamin, a German philosopher and theoretician of culture, who was one of the first to analyze its mass aspect.

Ewa Wróbel took up Benjamin’s thoughts regarding the meaning and influence of works of art, i.e. “Aura”. Claims on the subject of the artistic products considered classic of the genre affect the receivers, for mainly religious reasons, which is no longer the art of the present. Works have lost their “aura”, are massively reproduced, and thus cease to be elitist. According to Benjamin, this leads to the liberation of humanity.

The artist tries to find the answer to the question: “What happens to this aura or does it cease to exist outside the original? Does it matter at all? ” He does so from the title of the exhibition: “In search of the aura …”, in practice, try to discover the rightness (or lack thereof) in the assumptions of Walter Benjamin. Hanging on the walls of the gallery, six oil paintings, contrasts them with various forms of reproduction (CDs, prints, slide projection, memory game). Will this trigger a reflection in the viewer? Is the larger aura beating from the originals or their processing? “… in this matter, however, I do not want to say: YES or NO. It provokes only to reflect on the issue of how the work of the work, reproduction techniques, the condition of art and the position of the artist … “- admits the artist.

The original images shown on the exhibition, with their theme touch the problem of “aura”. As the artist explains, this word carries different meanings for her: “the wind gust is: the mood, the climate, the atmosphere prevailing around the person and the object. Aura, these are intangible colors and shapes that surround people and objects. ” For this reason, people who are close to the artist have been shown on the canvases. Their portraits, or rather the outlines of faces showing various emotional states, different “auras”.

comment from the author

“The exhibition will be about painting, dissemination, digitalization, searching for the” aura “that may be lost in reproduced works. The term was borrowed from Walter Benjamin, an essay: “A work of art in the era of its mechanical reproduction”. According to Benjamin, the works lose their “aura” and what is interesting, he thinks that it’s good, I’m not sure … In the postmodern era, people’s contact with art underwent a radical change. We can, while sitting in pajamas, visit the Louvre Museum and, on the computer monitor, see, using the zoom, the pores of Mona Lisa’s skin. Art is more accessible, reproduced in millions of copies. Is it good or bad? I do not know … I’m wondering about the aura that emanates from the original. Can we find her in reproduction? Is it important at all? What happened, is it happening with painting? Is he losing or is he gaining through mass distribution? How does this ancient medium live in the 21st century? ”