Marcin Zarzeka

Boats In The Sky

*performance by Lukasz Jastrubczak and Marcin Zarzeka

11. 02. - 04. 03. 2011


Pencil nr 2, 2009, series „Pencils“, 12,7 x 16cm, Aquarells on paper and wood, framed


Marcin Zarzeka studied in the painting class. Easel-oil-painting, however, never interested him. His work is a way of overcoming the painter’s obligations; it is an attempt of going beyond, or outsmarting, the medium. Surely he makes use of the painterly attributes; it’s basic molecules – paint, the stretcher, color and texture. But what emerges is not a painting; instead, sophisticated objects that show the essence of painting are created. The exhibition’s title comes from a popular polish pop song from the 90s, by the band De Mono. In it reverberates the painterly melancholy of Turner, the impressionists, post-impressionists and all those, who chose the boat as a subject. Marcin searches for a point just outside the border of what is no longer a painting, a border outside of which we can still feel the aftertaste of the oily medium.
Marcin’s work visually brings to mind the Russian avant-garde, sometimes even, though not necessarily on purpose, specific pieces. The colorful intermixing planes in Marcin’s work are determined by the logic of geometric abstraction – like Rodchenko’s drawings made with the help of the line and compass. The avant-garde’s way of reaching its goal was self-destruction; it placed itself in history’s point zero. Marcin’s work is void of this utopia and danger; it is a delicate, often formal play with accepted formulas of abstract art. This art is at peace with the fact that it will not repair the world, its inner tension results from the aesthetics of shapes, their transparency and texture.
One of the avant-garde’s utopias was the attempt to find a universal language, forms which will mean without borrowing. The avant-garde’s mistake was that, treating it as a tool, they did not realize the meaning of language. However, as we found out a bit later, language is a wave that carries us. Like a boat.

Dawid Radziszewski (Pies Gallery, Poznań, PL)


1.) Exhibition view; 2.) „o.T.“ (wood, lack), 2011;
3.) Midnight #3, series „Twisted Paper“ (train tickets, wood, squared mirror on paper), 2008, 21×33,8cm;
4.) Noonday #2, series „Twisted Paper“ (crayon on paper), 2008, 21x23cm;
5.) From the Series „Pencils“ (Aquarells on paper and wood), 2009;
6.) Pencil nr3, series „Pencils“ (aquarells on paper and wood), 7x21cm, 2009; 7.) 95×105 (aquarells on wood), 16x105cm, 2010


Marcin Zarzeka
1985 born in Elblag, Poland. lives, studies, works in Vienna, Austria and Warsaw, Poland.
2004-2007 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Academy of Fine Arts in Wroclaw, Poland.
since 2007 studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna at Prof. Amelie von Wulffen.

Awards
2008 first prize on contemporary art award, Belvedere, Augarten Contemporary, Vienna, Austria.
(the jury consisted of i.a. Kathrin Rhomberg, Eva Maria Stadler, Erwin Bohatsch, Agnes Husslein-Arco).

Solo shows
2009 Drawings, exhibition at Panipanama, Leipzig, Germany; was supported by Polish Institute in Berlin.

Group shows
2006 mik.parti.!., mik.musik.!. label exhibition, Centre for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, Poland.
2007 mik.parti.!., live performance, Museum Quartier, Quartier 21, Vienna, Austria,
live performance with Adrian Buschmann at the A4 cultural space, Bratislava, Slovakia.
2008 future perfect mik.musik.!. exhibition, in the frames of Kronika’s Alphabet, Gallery Zak Branicka, curated by Sebastian Cichocki, Berlin,
something must break exhibition during the Off Festival, curated by Sebastian Cichocki, Myslowice, Poland,
presentation of works at the Augarten Contemporary, Vienna, Austria,
Ballady I Romanse, live performance with The Complainer, Raster Gallery, Warsaw, Poland.
2009 VIENNAFAIR, Vienna Art Fair, with Ve.Sch – Raum und Form in der Bildenden Kunst, Vienna, Austria.
2010 Subtropics, live performance with The Complainer, Festival of Experimental Music and Sound Art, Miami Beach, USA,
live performance with The Complainer, Centro Cultural de Espana, Mexico City, Mexico
fuzzy sets, After The Butcher, curated by Amelie von Wulffen, Berlin, Germany,
Yes/ No – a subjective definition of synergy, Kastrupgaardsamlingen Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark

Projects
2005- member of The Complainer & The Complainers audio-visual band.
2006-2007 super-8 movies for the “BIO project” audio-visual show; with french duo Gangpol und Mit;
project was supported by European Union.





performance by Lukasz Jastrubczak and Marcin Zarzeka
„Third Song about Triangles“

play the video
camera Krzysztof Kaczmarek

Lukasz Jastrubczak
born 1984 in Poland. In his artistic approach he uses mainly video, photography, sculpture, performance and sound. He took part in various group exhibitions at Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Centre for Contemporary Arts in Warsaw, National Museum in Zielona Gora and many others.
His solo exhibitions where presented at BWA Gallery in Zielona Gora, Centre for Contemporary Arts Kronika in Bytom,
Pies Gallery in Poznan, ZPAF i Ska Gallery in Cracow, and at Art in General in New York, where he took a part in the
residency program.



in the frame of exhibition:
preview „Pool“ magazine
Philipp Ruthner
Pawel Trzcinski as Ch-Ch-Ching

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