To what extent have your childhood experiences influenced your decision about artmaking?
When did you begin to think about art seriously?
I guess, I have had such a need of “revealing” some kind of energy ever since…It is some creative element that sometimes bothers you… It was already at the studio of Tarasewicz that I began to think about art seriously. At that time, I was shown and I subsequently realised that serious art exists; it is real and capable of being achieved.
What was a period of studying to you?
It was Tarasewicz who exposed contemporary art and made it familiar to us. It was a time of intense working, studying, and self-defying.
You use traditional as well as contemporary mediums. In both works on canvas and films, you introduce simple strategies; one time they are restricted to black coal on white canvas, another one you film a sequence of one gesture. Why did you choose such an economy of forms?
I think the lesser body of forms is, the more space remains for the viewer. I think there is a possibility to embody a visceral burden in a minimal form.
Regardless of the burden of meanings, the motifs in your works are conceived in a remarkably delicate, subtle, and – I would say – soft and gentle manner. What does aesthetics mean to you?
Aesthetics is a notion of referring to a complete work of art. My work follows my intuition. I choose forms according to the need. I think that the aesthetics of my work is very natural.
I would like to ask you about your exhibition titled “Cutouts”, held at Foksal Gallery in February/March last year. It is known that it is a place of prestige and opinion. Did this fact stimulate you during preparing that exhibition?
I was honoured that I was offered to create an exhibition for Foksal Gallery. I am the youngest artist of this gallery, so the distinction is thus even superior. The gallery has become a crucial venue to me. The exhibition included paintings and one film. The film was mounted above the entrance to the gallery’s interior, serving as a “threshold” and inviting viewers, while imposing on the entire display – the paintings – a very peculiar meaning.
When I watch your films, I have an irresistible impression of tranquillity. It is as if you were talking about the world whispering. There is a lack of predacity, abundant attracting the viewer’s attention or attacking him/her – the practices very often employed in contemporary art. Were such results intended?
I like economy in art. When it is severe and it does not attack but respect the viewer. When it is pure.
In one of the interviews you mentioned about sight and its deception, expressing scepticism about what is perceptible. Is this a reason that you are more focused on the tangible. How important is the analysis of the senses in your perception of the world?
I rather put more emphasis on experiencing the senses in a wider range of meaning, which deals with empathy. Sometimes the verification of the means of perception may result in a peculiar alternation of the senses, which might be an interesting experience.
In your films, you use simple moving images that utilize motifs of the line, mirror reflection, repetition or multiple sequences. This monotonous repetition of one gesture, following the line and the pattern, and permanent searching for some motif evoke at once a variety of meanings. How important is the effect of time in them?
Time and existence in time are profoundly essential elements to me – both in terms of meaning and form. That’s why they are conveyed in every piece of my work. Time alters the value of things, motions, and gestures. Time constitutes or takes away the meaning. Monotony, traumatic or hypnotic repetition are often present in my works.
What do you think – to what degree can the artist’s visual vocabulary, which delves into his/her past and introduces elements of personal, sometimes very intimate experiences, become universal?
I think that experiences are universal. If the art is sincere, one is likely to find analogies to his/her own experiences.
Interview by Andrzej Szczepaniak, January 2004