2023/11/20
Cracks in Existence
TERESA RUDOWICZ | ALINA SZAPOCZNIKOW
23rd Sptember - 31st December 2023
On the surface, we exist; in the crevices, we dwell. When the flattening certainty wearies us, we dream of crevices. Discovering a crevice allows us to slide from the bright, smooth surface into darkness, to leave the area where the sharp light of certainty flattens perception. (...)
Delving into the dark cracks of reality unsettles and frightens us, but hope accompanies us, that we will reach deeper layers of being, that we will uncover values unseen on the surface.However, there is no certainty.
We take risks.Jolanta Brach-Czaina
From the essay Penetration, from the volume Cracks in Existence 1992
With the joint exhibition of Teresa Rudowicz and Alina Szapocznikow, I guide the viewers toward the art of
a sensitive gaze and attentive perception. Towards the creative works of two exceptional artists – women of the same generation, masters of spatial form, drawing, and collage. In this dialogue, they are accompanied by Jolanta BrachCzaina, a philosopher, feminist, and the author of the essay collection Cracks in Existence from 1992, recogni zed as one of the most important philosophical texts of the 20th century. The author paves the way for reflection accompanying the exhibition. She delves into the recesses and illuminates the cracks, revealing the deepest meanings of existence. The philosopher’s overarching message is the belief that, regardless of our awareness, the value of life reveals itself in details and everyday “bustling”. Moments that may seem devoid of deeper significance turn out to be essential for building individual reflection, for creating one’s own“self”.
Similarly, Teresa Rudowicz’s assemblage art elevates the minutiae of everyday life to a metaphysical and existential dimension. In her works, the artist combines elements of painting and collage, utilizing various textures and unconventional juxtapositions. Her works exude harmony, mystery, and a personal mythology that transforms the meaning of the used objects, creating new senses.
In a parallel manner, Alina Szapocznikow experimented with unconventional materials such as polyurethane and polyester, embedding photographs and everyday objects, for instance. She crafted a powerful, personal, and bold narrative about the female body – both in its full bloom of beauty and when ravaged by incurable diseases. Altho ugh she never explicitly affirmed feminism, the perspective strongly interpreted in her works brought her international recognition. Her works are housed in some of the most im portant contemporary art collections worldwide, including Paris, London, New York, and Los Angeles. Notably, her ex hibition “Sculpture Undone” at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2012/2013 played a significant role in this.
It’s worth emphasizing that Teresa Rudowicz made her debut at the New York museum much earlier during the renowned “Fifteen Polish Painters” exhibition in 1961. In the same year, also at MoMA, her works were displayed in a significant presentation of the new artistic form called“The Art of Assemblage”, alongside works by the most important representatives of this movement.
I deliberately chose the iconic figure of Alina Szapoczni kow as a starting point to captivate the audience’s attention and focus it on the works of Teresa Rudowicz. Her rich and intellectually contextualized body of work is an integral part of the legacy of avantgarde Polish art and requires careful and contemporary reinterpretation. Alina Szapocznikow and Teresa Rudowicz were not only exceptional artists of their era but also daring pioneers. Their work represented a revolution in the way women’s experiences were expressed through art, exploring sensuality and eroticism. In this manner, they became symbols and icons of their generation and an era of rapid changes in the 1960s and 1970s, which set the stage for a feminist perspective in the subsequent decades, not only in art.
Ania Muszyńska
Starak Collection | Spectra Art Space
curator
The exhibition presents artworks from the Starak Collection, the National Museum in Wrocław, Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź, the Zachęta - National Gallery of Art in Warsaw, and private collections.The exhibition is accompanied by the film 'Ślad' from 1976, directed by Helena Włodarczyk, from the Archive of the Educational Film Studio in Łódź.
Crakcs in Existence - exhibition catalogue
Cracks of Existence.
Teresa Rudowicz | Alina Szapocznikow
September 23 - December 31 2023
Exhibition open daily | 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Free admission.
The Starak Family Foundation | Spectra Art Space
Bobrowiecka 6 | Warsaw
© Copyright for Teresa Rudowicz's works – courtesy of the heirs
© Copyright for Alina Szapocznikow's works – The Estate of Alina Szapocznikow / Galerie Loevenbruck, Paris
Photographic documentation of the exhibition © Starak Family Foundation, photo by Maciej Jędrzejewski"
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