Michał Bartłomowicz
25 Mar - 07 Apr 2015
MICHAŁ BARTŁOMOWICZ
Cargo Cult: Copy and Imitation
25 March - 7 April 2015
Curator: Sabrina Zorzan
The artist’s first exhibition in Warszawa is a multilevel journey through imitation and reproduction. The central element as well as the binding material of the exposition is the song, the sound of which can be heard in the gallery’s space.
Michał Bartłomowicz applies in his works the technique of collage; however, he uses it in a unique way, not denying at the same time that the technique was conceived in an absolutely “accidental” way. It was initiated by a coincidence which inspired realization of his first works. The artist’s attention was drawn by some xeroxed snippets of sheets of paper, which he used by means of a photocopier, to produce new elements combined in collages. Thus, he created unique works. These snippets – the photographs coming from advertising materials, magazines, books, postcards – are the pictures found by chance. They were next xeroxed, sometimes modified in terms of their size or shifted while being photocopied; thus making up figures and fluid forms, which when juxtaposed create subsequent images, suggestive and intriguing. These pictures imitate some techniques of drawing and printing, just like, for example, xylography, but most of all lithography and etching.
The artist compares his modus operandi to sampling in music, which is choosing a fragment of a recording and using it again as a sound motif in a different piece of music. Bartłomowicz was intrigued by Serge Gainsbourg’s song Cargo culte which deals with the religious practice based on the principle “copy and imitate”, the reference of which can be found in the works at the exhibition. Although the artist knew Gainsbourg’s song before commencing his work on collages, it was only after some time that he managed to notice a significant link between his own works and the cargo cult, recalled in the song.
What is cargo cult? It is a religious practice which appeared in different tribal communities of Melanesia and New Guinea after their encounter with the West in XIX and XX centuries. What cargo cults have in common is the belief in the advent of ships and planes full of goods ( the name of the religious movements derive from the English word cargo) meant not for the Europeans, but for the indigenous people. The faithful regard goods delivery as a result of some divine intervention. Therefore, in order to bring the ships again and beg for the delivery of the new goods, worshiping the cult of cargo, they devote themselves to the religious practices, among other things, consisting in creating primitive imitations of runways and planes.
A puzzling coincidence. It is enough to quote Bartłomowicz’s words that: “a photocopier is a perfect machine to create imperfect, or even inept imitations and copies” to make everything clear.
Michał Bartłomowicz (born 1983): 2002-2007 – studies in the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice (major: Graphic Design); diploma in graphic design, final examination passed with merits and the award for the best diploma work in the field of graphic design in the academic year 2006/2007; Gili-Gili presents: “K like Cosmos”, the Łącznik Gallery, Kraków, exhibition “Modele i hybrydy. Od dziedzictwa i cytatów “klasycyzmu” do hybrydalnego, emblematu espółczesności i do nie-modelu” (Models and hybrids. From heritage and quotations of ‘’classicism” to hybrid emblem of the present and anti-model”, Arsene Galeria, Kraków.
Cargo Cult: Copy and Imitation
25 March - 7 April 2015
Curator: Sabrina Zorzan
The artist’s first exhibition in Warszawa is a multilevel journey through imitation and reproduction. The central element as well as the binding material of the exposition is the song, the sound of which can be heard in the gallery’s space.
Michał Bartłomowicz applies in his works the technique of collage; however, he uses it in a unique way, not denying at the same time that the technique was conceived in an absolutely “accidental” way. It was initiated by a coincidence which inspired realization of his first works. The artist’s attention was drawn by some xeroxed snippets of sheets of paper, which he used by means of a photocopier, to produce new elements combined in collages. Thus, he created unique works. These snippets – the photographs coming from advertising materials, magazines, books, postcards – are the pictures found by chance. They were next xeroxed, sometimes modified in terms of their size or shifted while being photocopied; thus making up figures and fluid forms, which when juxtaposed create subsequent images, suggestive and intriguing. These pictures imitate some techniques of drawing and printing, just like, for example, xylography, but most of all lithography and etching.
The artist compares his modus operandi to sampling in music, which is choosing a fragment of a recording and using it again as a sound motif in a different piece of music. Bartłomowicz was intrigued by Serge Gainsbourg’s song Cargo culte which deals with the religious practice based on the principle “copy and imitate”, the reference of which can be found in the works at the exhibition. Although the artist knew Gainsbourg’s song before commencing his work on collages, it was only after some time that he managed to notice a significant link between his own works and the cargo cult, recalled in the song.
What is cargo cult? It is a religious practice which appeared in different tribal communities of Melanesia and New Guinea after their encounter with the West in XIX and XX centuries. What cargo cults have in common is the belief in the advent of ships and planes full of goods ( the name of the religious movements derive from the English word cargo) meant not for the Europeans, but for the indigenous people. The faithful regard goods delivery as a result of some divine intervention. Therefore, in order to bring the ships again and beg for the delivery of the new goods, worshiping the cult of cargo, they devote themselves to the religious practices, among other things, consisting in creating primitive imitations of runways and planes.
A puzzling coincidence. It is enough to quote Bartłomowicz’s words that: “a photocopier is a perfect machine to create imperfect, or even inept imitations and copies” to make everything clear.
Michał Bartłomowicz (born 1983): 2002-2007 – studies in the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice (major: Graphic Design); diploma in graphic design, final examination passed with merits and the award for the best diploma work in the field of graphic design in the academic year 2006/2007; Gili-Gili presents: “K like Cosmos”, the Łącznik Gallery, Kraków, exhibition “Modele i hybrydy. Od dziedzictwa i cytatów “klasycyzmu” do hybrydalnego, emblematu espółczesności i do nie-modelu” (Models and hybrids. From heritage and quotations of ‘’classicism” to hybrid emblem of the present and anti-model”, Arsene Galeria, Kraków.