KAMIL STAŃCZAK ORGANIKA

Opening: 16.05.2014, opening hour: 18.00

Open until: 27.06.2014, opening hours: Mon.-Sat. 12.00-18.00

Organika is the fourth solo show by Kamil Stańczak held at the Biała Gallery. Stańczak had his first exhibition here in 2005, when he participated in a group show Nova Biała presenting works by young artists based in Lublin.

Stańczak works with various media, particularly with painting and installation, but he also creates art objects and architectural models, and builds devices that can be set in motion. Characteristic of his art are explosions of bright colours, abandoned buildings, bunkers, mazes of underground corridors and bizarre structures with plants growing in them.

By selecting specific elements of wild nature and post-industrial architecture degraded by civilization, the artist creates peculiar and mysterious landscapes, both natural and artificial, suspended between the real and the imaginary. The two worlds incessantly collide with each other providing the basis for Stańczak’s artistic explorations. In the current exhibition at the Biała Gallery, Stańczak yet again transgresses these boundaries.

Organika is a site specific installation occupying all the gallery space, including the adjacent corridor. It is also the biggest-yet exhibition of Kamil Stańczak’s work. The artist interferes with the gallery’s architecture by defining it with the fragments of organic substance, which, however, has been created entirely with synthetic materials. Here, the artificial attempts at either imitating or at least complementing the natural.

The title organika is manifested in the large stretches of moss and mould, overgrown with never-aging bracket fungi. There is some sort of bloody matter of unknown origin placed on plates, along with slices of bread that cannot be found at the baker’s. Stańczak’s round paintings resemble tissue samples about to be examined. Incidentally, in 1980s the rooms that are now a part of the gallery served as lecture theatres and laboratories for students of medicine.

Kamil Stańczak’s work can be interpreted in a number of ways as his art is not only allusive but also based on unexpected and equivocal associations. What makes his art special is exceptional craftsmanship and artistry, as well as its uniqueness.

Anna Nawrot

Kamil Stańczak (born in 1980) graduated from the Institute of Fine Arts at the Maria Skłodowska-Curie University in Lublin.

Apart from exhibitions at the Biała Gallery, the artist has had a number of shows in Poland and abroad. His solo exhibitions were held at: Dom Chemika in Puławy (2005, 2008), Contemporary Art Gallery in Przemyśl (2006), Bureau of Art Exhibitions in Sanok, Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in Lublin (2010) and Agora Cultural Centre in Wrocław (2011). He has also taken part in several group exhibitions, including: 6th National Exhibition of Young Painters in Awangarda Gallery in Wrocław (2005), Kunstmiroffsky at Kordegarda Gallery in Warsaw, Konstmässan in Stockholm (2006), 6th Art Biennale Sacrum in Częstochowa, White Zone at Austrian Gallery in Warsaw, Polish Painting of the 21st Century at Zachęta – National Gallery of Art in Warsaw, The Desiring Machines at Art Factory in Łódź (2008), (Re)volutions at Olimpia Gallery in Cracow (2009), No Budget Show 3 at Kordegarda Gallery in Warsaw (2011), My-Se at Zajezdnia Gallery in Lublin (2012)
Stańczak works at the Maria Skłodowska-Curie University in Lublin.