The life and works of Tadeusz Kantor,
who was born in 1915 and died in 1990, wholly fall into the 20th
century. The artist from Kraków experienced nearly all nightmares of that
epoch: both world wars, totalitarianisms, the physical destruction of the world
of childhood and youth, contempt for the human life and an individual, the
value of which depended only on quantity. In the changing world, where
intellectuals, instead of defending the truth, frequently represented great
utopias, Kantor continuously had to define his attitude as an artist and
specify his goals. His understanding of the role of an artist was compliant
with the classical definition of the avant-garde, as a creator rejecting the
current styles, creating his or her own world which does not imitate the
reality, one seeking a separate language of artistic expression. He implemented
his ideas among others in surrealist metaphorical painting, Informel, Tachisme,
happenings. He used various styles and conventions to present his discoveries:
art as wandering – journey, emballage, reality of the lowest rank, reality of
the recollection – memory, struggle between illusion and reality, etc.
Lech Stangret
Exhibition of works by Tadeusz Kantor inaugurates a new series Spectra Art Space MASTERS, which aims to present the work of the greatest Polish artists - masters, professors and precursors of the avant-garde of the second half of the twentieth century, whose output had a significant impact for constructing Anna and Jerzy Starak art collection.