The Joy of Colour

This project which is part or the Polish Cultural Week 2011 exhibits work by seven artists from the Prom Art Gallery, Gdansk, Poland.
The Prom Art Gallery shows primarily art works by people with disabilities. It was established in 1995 as the first of its kind in Poland. Since then, it has mounted more than 200 exhibitions of work of artists from all over Poland, Germany and Belarus. The work usually arises in workshops led by professional exhibiting artists who are cultivating the talents discovered. From the beginning, the gallery was happy to engage these professionals who look with wonder and at times even envy to the natural creative freedom, excellent composition and accurate selection of colours of the artists with disabilities. Exhibitions are shown in many galleries in Poland, including the National Museum and National Art Gallery.
The idea of ​​this exhibition was born during a computerized cataloguing of the work collected in our gallery store. For over 16 years of its existence, it gathered more than fifteen hundred works concerned with form, exuding a spot, moved by a zigzag, the designated line or bold strokes - releases energy, raises the game of emotion, considering the mystery of the whole work of creation, leaving the man in the big implicitly.

For PS², it is quite unusual to show work, framed and labelled, in a traditional way as in this exhibition. Our main interest in this project is the creative potential in all people, regardless of academic training. That the artists here are all ‘disabled’ is and should not be seen as a handicap or the dominant aspect, provoking sympathy. The curators of the Prom Art gallery and Teresa Pałejko, the art historian who selected the work, stress that they regard the work as art, regardless of the physical and mental conditions of the trained or un-trained artists. To recognize this quality and to foster and facilitated creativity through workshops, encounters and assistance with ‘professional’ artists and exhibitions is one striking aspect of the Prom Art gallery.
As conventional as the display may look like, it reminds us to look beyond the current trends of installations and site specific work- usually realized in PS² - and to focus on a single image, framed and somehow cut off from the spatial/social context. This isolation allows the viewer, to read and appreciate the lines, colours and rhythms of the drawings, which hold a fine balance between abstraction and references to reality.

The artists

Arkadiusz Domek, born 1975, lives in Bydgoszcz. His works are created in the painting studio workshop at the Association of Occupational Therapy “Medar”. His works are characterized by a contrast of colour and a composition of repeating bands, engaging forms of sequences of small flowers, cornfields and grasses. Subjects such as wind, as if in a vortex, almost force the viewer to spin, together with the rotation of the Earth, revolving cosmos ... Perhaps this mysterious composition has its cause in some archetypal rhythms and feel the earth move. These intriguing images do not take into account perspective, but they are in the deep layers of built forms and colours. Each band has its own space, is separate, and dense. Other artists of this exhibition come from the Gdańsk Therapy Workshops. Some of the works were created many years ago, others are completely fresh.

Mariusz Toczek, 1974 - 2001. Since the beginning of his creative work, Mariusz, one could surmise was not concerned with what he saw. Paper planes covered in abstract forms, filled with sophisticated colour emanate their own light that forms at the interface between juxtaposed contrasting patches of colour, mostly geometric. These are carefully considered compositions based on the need for order. Looking at the finished painting we are not only interested in form; the author's representations are specific, as the artist explained in detail what he had painted at one of his shows. In later work, without sacrificing the proper place of figure, he began to use forms close to nature.

Poterała Martin, born 1979, uses colour as a determinant of mainly forms. While much inspired by colour the objects remain almost monochromatic. With great imagination and the freedom to fill a plane of the picture levitating forms create compositions full of fun and humour.

Barbara Swist, born 1976 was captivated by colour, the outlines of hazy forms, where the light comes out of the colours, linking and separating them. This can be attributed to a poetic narrative. Danuta Cichocka, born 1972. Her work is of firmly distinguished shapes, sometimes emphasizing the form of black dots, colours, evoking joyous moods. The "portrait" of a rooster confirms this. Her figures are produced from the darkness; the bird looks at his own shadow, which arises from the bright light cast on the litter.

Wojciech Rubik, born 1954, the author's imagination is mainly concerned with landscapes with houses, sometimes ships, and great birds. Fantastic and fabulous are its warm colour schemes, exuding serenity, perhaps some sentimental longings, but above all we are surrounded by its gentle beauty. Interesting is often the background fill, as shown in the pictures in this exhibition, we can see the sky set in bold tachistic strokes.

Sebastian Proszko, born 1971, uses colour in his paintings in pure abstraction. In this focused composition some fragments of a more detailed outline are retained in the picture. The compositions of some of his works are often geometric, but with some detour into soft, crushed contours, clean colour, and a lighter touch of pastel coloured background. Enigmatic, mysterious and compelling.
Text: Teresa Pałejko Opening with Teresa Pałejko

Friday, 06.05, 5pm & 7pm @ PS²

Performance by Marta Bosowska
Marta Bosowska lives and works in Poznan. She states
'In my artistic work I am combining various forms of artistic expression, involving lots of aspects of perception. Mainly, it is an installation, object and performance. My work and actions are the result of permanent searching, sorting and collecting. I am nurturing emotional plots, recalling them with a help of signs, sounds and places. I am choosing straight gestures, situations, objects and materials surrounding a person in everyday life. My actions are based on a history, personal and collective experiences. I am trying to discern details, which often elude one and become forgotten. The reflection to which I am encouraging stems from the experience of reality.'

Sunday, 08.05, 3pm @ Golden Thread Gallery: Artist talk- Marta Bosowska. Marta Bosowska: Performance. Still by Jordan Hutchings. For more information of the Polish Cultural Week 2011 see