workshop

During many years of my studies and subsequent work as an assistant at the Academy of Fine Arts, I got acquainted with numerous methods of reproducing both my memory and the world around us.

From a simple pencil to highly specialised digital devices controlled by algorithms of computer software. With time, I realized that, colloquially speaking, the most modern equipment will never replace a human being, because it was man who invented these tools as a help in the implementation of his bold visions and amazing ideas. In the Antoni Kenar State High School of Fine Arts all carpentry tools are displayed on one of the walls. They have a decorative function, but they also inform future creators about the development of human thought. In sculptural studios, chisels and mullets, whether they are used for wood or stone carving, still have applications, even though we already have at our disposal electric and laser chisels as well. What is more, any sculpture can now be created in 3D software. There it can be given a desired shape and size, and covered with a texture of choice – all the saved data printed from the machine. A student who begins his adventure with sculpture begins with clay and learns about the whole range of its artistic possibilities. I have found out many times, sitting in front of a blank white A4 sheet of paper and trying to create something (which not always worked) that the most important thing is the idea. Tools are only secondary. Over the years, observing students and their approach to work, I could see different attitudes towards the implementation of artistic tasks. Most of the time, it was a very dynamic approach that usually ended up going back to where it started from. Therefore, it is better to think in advance, invent, and only then start working with great enthusiasm and make some specific corrections only during the creative process. It is much more difficult to revise and correct a sculptural work. In this case, the technological processes largely determine the process of imagination and realization. Obviously, my point of view is the one of a lecturer who got to observe students during the implementation of the basic, classical academic sculpture. First the idea, then everything needed and necessary to make it happen. In my creative work, with time, I became convinced that a specific tool of my choice, assigned to a given work of art, would be the best in its creation.  

Zbigniew Rybczyński argues that the real artists today are software developers, and the role of mindless labourers is assigned to software users… He may have a point. We can partially agree with his words, if we assume that a work of functional art is on a par with a work of art. Today we are all owners of a smartphone equipped with a camera and an app for image processing and printing. Each of us can take a photo – for example during a walk to the park – and call it art. There was a banana peel at Art Basel exhibit sold for $ 120,000. You do not need workshop for similar ideas. During the same Art Basel Miami Beach’s exhibit, which the media did not cover, Helly Nahmad’s gallery sold Pablo Picasso’s ”Mousquetaire et Femme a la Fleur” for about $20 million. I believe that the mere knowledge of computer programs and a skilful use of their capabilities are not enough. Showing the possibilities of an app is therefore a confirmation of the brilliant work of the programmer. However, it cannot be called art. For this to take place you need an idea and a planned goal. 

The first trace I leave during the implementation of my postdoctoral project is a drawing. It enables me to establish an idea shaped partly from my imagination and partly from my observations of nature. That is why I have been using crayons and a pencil from the very beginning to create my means of expression. To speed up the whole process of recording images that I created, I used digital photography. I believe that the simplest tools are perfect for quickly jotting down your thoughts. At a later stage, when the idea crystallizes, I select graphion rapidographs. The tracing paper used in my project is still an excellent artistic medium. Everything that was created with ink on tracing paper is scanned and digitized in my PC, where – using graphic software, I revise and correct the graphics, mainly cleaning the material. With the graphic material ready as I intended, I use a PostScript platesetter to get the graphics mapped onto the photographic film. I take the film to the serigraphy studio to illuminate the mesh screen in the darkroom. In order for the mesh to accurately reproduce the smallest details of the graphics, its density should be carefully selected. After thorough delamination of the mesh screen, i.e. cleaning from the previous pattern and drying, the mesh is covered with a photographic emulsion. This operation takes place in the darkroom. Once the mesh is dry, it is ready for exposure. For this purpose, I put the mesh on a huge printing frame, position a plate with a graphic pattern on it, and then expose it with a halogen lamp for several dozen seconds. The mesh is almost ready. Then, with a strong stream of water, I wash all the remaining graphic elements that have not been exposed. 

After exposing and drying the mesh, you still need to retouch the serigraphy, i.e. remove all the dirt that was left on the mesh during exposure. The final stage is the printing itself, the choice of paint and paper. As you can see, the process I use is long, arduous and very complicated. Starting with the simplest tools, such as a pencil, I gradually implement photography, digital processing techniques and finish my work on the screen printing table. However, in order to be able to take the first print from the screen printing drying rack, I always have to envision the way it looks first.