For Art as a tool
centuries, until the invention of mirrors, people could only see themselves through the eyes of others. A painting or a sculpture created by an artist provided them with knowledge about themselves. At the same time, it influenced their self-perception.
When interpreted by properly prepared viewers, the work speaks to them about the beliefs, doubts, existential choices, and intellectual and spiritual quests of the author. Just as we reach for the texts of great philosophers to better understand ourselves and the world, we can reach for works of visual arts.
regardless of how we judge this fact, we live in an iconosphere. We may ignore it, adore it, or condemn it. But we can also use it as Jarmoliński does: as a tool of cognition and communication.
Małgorzata Malinowska
curator of the exhibition