Journey and Exploration, or Perhaps a Shared Creation?
Exhibition Review
Marcin Wrzal can already be considered a veteran of Lublin’s Art Brut Gallery—his works have appeared at the Centre for Culture for the sixth time. This, however, does not mean that the artist is no longer able to surprise his audience. On this occasion, his surreal imagination took on a rather minimalist and almost monochromatic form, through which viewers are treated to fantastical depictions.
Looking at the individual drawings, it is difficult to pinpoint a clear subject—but is that necessary? Instead of literalness and simplicity, the viewer is invited to embark on an extraordinary journey. Engaging with each of Wrzal’s graphics is partly an act of exploration. The viewer follows the lines running across the cardboard, discovers shapes that at first seem familiar—caricatured, reduced to expressive simplicity faces; omnipresent eyes that appear to gaze from within the compositions; fragments of plants and animals… The whole is enclosed in a cool tonal range reminiscent of old, corroded metal—an impression enhanced by the subtle use of 'rusty' colors as complementary accents.
The artist also skillfully uses negative space, once again challenging the viewer’s perception and encouraging the discovery of shapes even in seemingly empty backgrounds—there, too, expressive contours of human faces emerge, delineated by delicate linework. This gives Wrzal’s works a certain three-dimensional quality, while they still remain strongly tied to the flatness of the cardboard—the decisive element is the viewer’s gaze, shifting focus across different fragments of the composition.
So, does the audience encounter a finished artistic product? Certainly not. In the case of such surreal or even abstract representations, viewers are offered multiple possibilities for interpretation. In each drawing, the logical order of the world is disrupted to varying degrees, allowing one to immerse oneself (perhaps alongside the artist) in fantasies hovering between hallucination and dreams. Are these soul-wearying nightmares of the artist? Or is he skillfully toying with the viewer’s sensitivity, reaching out and inviting them on a shared journey? It is certainly worth experiencing firsthand.
Marcin Wrzal
Ripped from the Shackles of Imagination
On view: 1–30 June 2023 (extended until 10 July 2023)
Exhibition closing event (finissage): 29 June 2023, 17:00
Własność Fundacji Teatroterapia Lubelska. Wszystkie prawa zastrzeżone.
Zrealizowano przy pomocy finansowej Miasta Lublin