Ryszard Wasko. Time Frames

Transcription

1 Ryszard Wasko

2 Ryszard Wasko Time Frames The 1970s was a key period for Wasko; it was a time during which his creative attitude was shaped and his works of that decade helped to form Polish art in the following years. As a member of Warsztat Formy Filmowej [Film Form Studio] ( ), which is tied to the Film School in Łódź (other members included Paweł Kwiek, Józef Robakowski, and Zbigniew Rybczyński), he concentrated on the conceptual analysis of media. At this time Wasko created films, video art, photographs, installations, and drawings in which time, space, movement, and perception were the main subjects; he analytically broke these elements down into their basic components, which allowed him to deconstruct the media in which the works are presented. Wasko was among the first artists to make conscious use of the camera as an element of performance, and not just as a tool for documenting it. One example is the film Od A do B i z powrotem do A [From A to B and back to A] (1974), in which he analyses the relationship between space, sound (the microphone), and image (the camera). His Od 0 do 180 [From 0 to 180 ] (1971) photography series pairs a person s field of perception and the frame of a camera: the field of view is documented through the movement of a human head being raised up and down, and moved from left to right. One of Wasko s most famous pieces is the photo documentation of the no-longer-existing Róg [Corner] installation (1976), where a monitor was set in the corner of a room, broadcasting a recording from a camera filming a corner in another room live. Cut Up Portraits clearly demonstrate the artist s concept of the photographic arrangement and facilitates our understanding of his position towards the problematic aspects of time and space in new media. The idea of the photographic arrangement, which he used in many of his works of this time period, was to dissect a single image into factors and then assemble it anew in the form of a specific collage, where it becomes impossible to grasp it with a single glance. The result of this is the introduction of an element of movement into the previously static medium of photography. The very essence of photography is to stop time, immortalise the characters and objects at a standstill- it is these fundamental attributes which Wasko took away from traditional photography. Wasko was one of a few Polish artists to exhibit abroad in the 1970s (he collaborated with gallery m Bochum and René Block gallery, among others), maintaining close contacts with the international arts scene. In 1980 he was invited to the famous Pier + Ocean exhibition at the Hayward Gallery in London, where his work was displayed alongside pieces by Carl Andre, Sol LeWitt, and Richard Serra. Wasko organized and took part in the legendary Construction in Process exhibition in Łódź, Munich, Israel and Melbourne. From 0 to 180, 1971, silver gelatine print, cm From 0 to 180 is a photo series which pairs a person s field of perception and the frame of the camera. The artist documents the field of vision by moving his head up and down, and from left to right by means of a constant, linear movement of the point of view of the camera.

3 Enlargement-Decrease, 1976, silver gelatine print, cm Six horizontally placed photographs presenting a city landscape reveal the growing disturbance (motion) which is introduced into the static photograph by movement and, thus, by element of time. In the first print there are two blocks of flats partially obscured by a telegraph pole in the foreground. Each of the following photographs shows the same view, taken at the same location, only with a different exposure time. Gradually the picture becomes more distorted ad blurred. Distortion expands until the last frame, where there are no more identifiable objects, only dark indefinite sots. Thanks to the distinct foreground and background one can imagine the depth of the field.

4 Cut Up Portraits, 1971, silver gelatine print, cm (each) The Accident is a photographic construction from 1971, which transgresses the standard of a photographic presentation through the multiplication of the picture. Significantly, not one of the individual photographs presents us with the whole picture of the event instead, they each show only a particular detail. Piecing these fragments together also does not form the complete picture. The potential whole is accessible only as a mental image, a notion. Dissimilarly to in film, however, this change of vantage point is not developed in a linear way it moves in many different directions and is not limited in time. The Accident 1971, silver gelatine print, cm (each)

5 Self-Portrait with Yellow, Blue, Red, 1975, silver gelatine print, cm (each) A Corner, 1976, silver gelatine print, cm (each) The visual is based on a simple operation carried out on the slant of the red, blue and yellow line. I used these colours because they come from the tradition of the constructivists. I wanted to emphasise my kind of artistic roots, which identify themselves with those great artists, whose achievements were rejected for tens of years by the authorities, hidden and repressed. It is enough to remember what fate met Strzeminski, Kobro, Rodchenko, Malevich and many others. For this reason another layer of this work is the simple procedure of drawing a diagonal line, which negates me as an artist. In this installation, Wasko problematises the phenomenon of direct transmission, analysing simultaneously the relation between reality and its representation, between real space and presented space. Another important aspect of this work is the spatial character of the installation itself (the monitor) it is a point where real space meets the representation of space, so the installation not only deconstructs the medium of video, but it also comes into an inter-textual relation with sculpture and environmental art.

6 Ryszard Wasko Born in 1947 in Nysa, Poland. Lives and works in Berlin, Germany SOLO EXHIBITIONS (selection): 2014 Time Frames Conceptual Work from the 70s., ZAK BRANICKA Gallery, Berlin, DE 2013 Genesis, TRAFO Art Center, Szczecin, PL 2009 Contemporary Portrait, Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin, DE Paintings, Center for the Arts, New York 1986 Ryszard Wasko, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin, DE 1984 Ryszard Wasko, Kunstverein, Kassel, DE Ryszard Wasko, Hoffman Galerie, Friedberg, DE 1981 Small Retrospective, Museum Folkwang, Essen, DE Hypothetical photography, Galerie m, Bochum, DE 1976 Ryszard Wasko, Galerie m, Bochum, DE 1972 Photography, Filmschool, Lodz, PL GROUP EXHIBITIONS (selection): 2014 Decade of Revolt, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, SE ,2,3 Avant-Gardes, Tate Modern Gallery, London, UK 2007 Tents, Venice Biennale - Synagogue, Venice, IT 2006 Image/Text, Tate Modern Gallery, London, UK Analogue: Pioneering Artists Video from Poland, Tate Modern Gallery, London, UK 2005 Open Systems, Tate Modern Gallery, London, UK 2003 A History of Polish Avantgarde Film, MOMA, New York,US 2001 Markers- Project, Venice Biennale, Venice, IT 2000 From Here to There, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, DE Polish Film School, MOMA, New York, US 1999 Oreste Project, Venice Biennale - Italian Pavillion, Venice, IT 1997 Another Language, Haifa Museum of Art, Haifa, IL 1991 In-between Project, Venice Biennale - Turkish Pavillion, Venice 37 Rooms, Kunstwerke, Berlin, DE 1987 Homage to Joseph Beuys, Klaus Staeck Galerie, Heidelberg, DE 1986 Idee, Raum, Konstruktion, Kunsthalle, Bielefeld, DE 1983 Praesence Polonaise, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, FR 1982 Sol LeWitt s Choice, Cenobio Visualit à Gallery, Milano, IT 1981 Konstrukcja w Procesie [Construction in Process], Lodz, PL 1980 Pier + Ocean: Construction in the Art of the 70s, Hayward Gallery, London, UK; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, NL Sydney Biennale 1979 Works & Words, DeAppel Gallery and Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, NL Film as Film, Hayward Gallery, London, UK Lindenstr. 35, Berlin mail@zak-branicka.com Hypothetical Photography, 1977, silver gelatine print, cm (each) ŻAK BRANICKA, 2014; concept: Asia Żak Persons and Monika Branicka, cooperation: Katarzyna Lorenc, Sophie Hudson; images: Ryszard Wasko Front and back cover: Weariness of My Leg, 1976, silver gelatine print, cm (fragment)

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