GENETIC CONDITIONING – Jacek Malczewski
It all began over 20 years ago, when I started taking photos of myself with Jacek Malczewski’s self-portraits. What connects me with Malczewski is, more than anything, using my own face, my own figure in the context of “becoming”, of actions related largely to the need to speak of oneself and to manifest one’s presence. My “selfies with Malczewski” were created while I travelled to places where his images of himself were exhibited. In my view, Malczewski, due to his exhibitionism, provoking the viewer to determine his role, his significance, might still be able to make a name for himself today. When I analysed Malczewski’s biography, his personality, behaviours, his relations with people, he seemed to be in many ways a kindred spirit, similar in character to me. Perhaps sharing the same day and month of birth might be relevant to this similarity. I do not view Malczewski uncritically: I’m frequently annoyed or amused by him, and never left indifferent. This particular relationship is the reason that the entire series of my photos with Jacek Malczewski received the title “Genetic conditioning”. The series is composed of over 40 photos and remains unfinished. There’s also the small series of several photos, entitled “Archive”, in which I appear in various situations as Malczewski’s friend, accompanying him in his studio, outdoors, in the garden with his family, in Tuligłowy at the Bal family place.
Then there are paintings – “Self-portrait with…” and “The passing on of the palette”, in which Malczewski represented himself with his friend, confidant, Mieczysław Gąsecki. I don’t have a particularly high opinion of Gąsecki’s talent, which is why I replaced his figure with a man whose facial features resemble mine.