Michał Stonawski is an artist who in his creative activities focuses on replicating utterly trivial objects in a hyperrealistic manner. He works with objects that are so extremely ordinary, they are scarcely noticeable and, apart from that, often filthy, worn and decrepit. Stonawski exclusively paints, but, nevertheless, he somehow manages to create a convincing illusion, making us believe we see duplicates of such objects right in front of our eyes. Even their dimensions correspond to the originals.
Visitors entering the exhibition of works by Michał Stonawski entitled “What I Am Seeing Is Not What I See” (open until 2 October in Bunkier Sztuki in Krakow) suddenly find themselves in a space filled with unexpected traps. Near the entrance we can see an imitation of Michał’s studio, but except that, there are no clear sections marked out in the exhibition space. Agnieszka Mazoń, the curator of the exhibition, opted for this kind of space arrangement, striving for it to resemble a messy boiler room. This is why visitors are confused as to which door can be opened, which boxes actually have valves of meters inside or which waste container they can really use to dispose of rubbish. Sometimes they instinctively check whether the radiators are warm and, surprisingly, find these to be painterly objects. The dummies that mislead the audience most successfully are those resembling objects we normally see in a given surroundings. We do not really expect to find a mailbox in the basement, but we are not surprised to see old cardboard boxes there. In the exhibition space, there is a site-specific intervention which I perceive as the most successful – a modern fireplace with firewood inside. Only someone who looks at it very attentively will discover that the seemingly wooden boards are in fact rectangular canvasses.
The exhibition is deceptive – it is a game aimed at astonishing visitors, as a result arousing a wide array of emotions t. What they experience ranges from disorientation and confusion to roars of laughter at themselves. Some would say that Michał Stonawski assumes a role of a prestidigitator who arranges his exhibition as a world of illusion or a wax museum. In my opinion, however, the artist most of all wanted to communicate what two ancient painters, Parrhasius of Ephesus and Zeuxis of Heraclea, felt when they were engaged in a contest. The famous painting contest between the two of them took place in the 5th century BC and was to decide which painter was able to imitate reality more successfully. Zeuxis painted a still life with grapes which looked so real that birds pecked at them. Nevertheless, Parrhasius turned out the moment his opponent asked him to remove a curtain from the painting. The curtain was in fact not real – just its painted illusion. As visitors of the exhibition “What I Am Seeing Is Not What I See” we are deceived by the illusionism applied by Michał Stonawski, exactly like Zeuxis was deceived during the ancient painting contest.
We can certainly say that what Michał Stonawski does is the mastery of illusionist painting. It is apparent that he only creates imitations of objects that are very commonplace, even time-worn. An interesting question that could therefore be asked is whether he is only excited with the challenge of accurately mimicking specific textures or maybe he wants to create his personal re-interpretation of what Tadeusz Kantor called ‘objects of the lowest rank’? Perhaps his underlying motivation is to put an emphasis on things that are widespread in our everyday life. Such underlying principle would link Michał Stonawski with Maciej Bieniasz from the Wprost group, especially taking into account that both painters strongly focus on the mailbox in their works.
The exhibition is complemented by an annexcomposed of recent works. These are copies of covers of books taken directly from second-hand bookshop shelves. Among them are covers of classic books, such as “The Human Comedy” by Honoré de Balzac, “The Plague” by Albert Camus, “Kordian” by Juliusz Słowacki, “Narcotics” by Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz; publications from the field of science, for example Brehm’s “Life of Animals. Mammals”, Einstein’s “Relativity: The Special and the General Theory”, “Physics for students enrolling on technical university studies” by Zbigniew Kamiński. Most of the covers are, however, related to art, for example “Art and Visual Perception” by Rudolf Arnheim, “The Materials of the Artist and Their Use in Painting” by Max Doerner, “Art and Illusion” by Hans Josef Gombrich, “Education through Art” by Herbert Read, “The Miraculous Painting of the Mother of God” by Father Konstanty Marja Żukiewicz. One must admit that, under pretence of showing us some intriguing textures of book covers and often damaged dust jackets, the artist intends to invite us to visit his very own world of intellectual inspirations. It strikes us particularly when we realise that his art perfectly exemplifies what is described in the books by Arnheim and Gombrich. Thisis the most personal among projects by Michał, one of Krakow’s illusionist painters. It presents his personality hidden behind the dummies and is,therefore, intimate and equally interesting at the same time.
“What I Am Seeing Is Not What I See” presented in Bunkier Sztuki is the biggest ever presentation of works by this exceptional artist. It will be very intriguing to see in which direction the artistic pursuits of this talented painter continue. It is possible that his next exhibition will to a lesser extent present props and focus on tricks or puzzles for the audience to solve. It may instead be more of a personal storyline wrapped in hyperrealistic representations.
Written by Robert Domżalski
“What I Am Seeing Is Not What I See”
Curator: Agnieszka Mazoń Coordinator: Renata Zawartka
Bunkier Sztuki in Krakow, Michał Stonawski, Michał Stonawski exhibition
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