ARTiculAction Art Review - Special Issuue Aug. 2016 | Page 2

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SUMMARY

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C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Stanley Shoemaker

Mark Franz

Marta Stysiak

Thodoris Trampas

Lillian Abel

Leonid Dutov

Mexico

USA

Poland

Greece

USA

Russia

We live in a world made
from visual contents, the
streets are flooded with
advertisements telling
the viewer what is the
ideal merchandise, what
is beautiful and what is
socially acceptable,
photography as a
medium lets people see
the ideal world through
the lens. As spanish
photographer Joan
Fontcuberta said, "
Every photograph is a
fiction with pretensions
to truth. Despite
everything that we have
been inculcated, all that
we believe, photography
always lies; it lies
instinctively, lies
because its nature does
not allow it to do
anything else." So, this
portfolio is a reminder of
all the things
photography can do as a
tool to provide a
different perspective on
our own society.

My art is informed by two
separate disciplines:
Literature and Design. In
regard to my research in
Literature, it has been
common for me to focus on
20th century American
Literature, and its preoccupations with subculture,
moral climate change, and
political disenchantment.
These ideas are prominent
in my research and artwork, and it has become
my pleasure to find unique
ways to communicate these
ideas visually. Poetry, as
an excellent model for the
non‐linear narrative, as
well as its ability to concentrate imagery, is a
primary source for
inspiration in this regard.
These ideas provide a
strong foundation for
pursuing further development in the design world.
My artwork works to
capture these themes in a
non‐linear fashion as a
marriage of poetry and
design.

Marta Stysiak is a Polish
cinematographer and the
author of photographic
projects and photographs of a filmic
backdrop or related to
film in general. She is
the author of
photography for documentaries, reportages,
short features, video art
and experimental videos.
Her photographs were
published among others
in Polish magazines, Le
journal de la Photographie, Dailyserving, GUP
magazine and are in
private collections. Also
a co-founder of Synergy
collective, which
experiments with visual
clichés and innovations
but also plays around
with narratives and
storytelling. Stysiak is
based in Warsaw, where
she lives and works
freelance.

The ongoing search of
the human beings for
their own image is
found in the conscious
and unconscious need
“to be”. We are in the
depths of an existence
experiencing the
loneliness in front of
two empty tables,
declaratory of the
absence of “those who
never came”. It is
waiting and searching
at the same time. It
experiences rejection.
However, the hope that
they will come
transfers those human
beings to the area of
utopia. With
stereotypical moves,
with quickly-moving
hands and feet and
after that, with an earsplitting creeping, they
try to bridge the
distance between the
ideal and the real.

The paintings are an
exploration of the space
between abstraction
and representation.
They are abstracted by
the palette knife,
searching for hidden
worlds and images in
the paint that reveal on
the picture plane. They
need to be uncovered,
stroked, massaged and
moved onto the
surface, brought up
from where they are
hiding; surprising me
with their ability to
come forth when called
by my hand. Revealing
the recognized of our
‘world sight’ as
unrecognizable,
opening the eye of the
witness to the
coalescence of
fierceness and delicacy
in Nature.

You have made a video
and the video gives a
message. This message is
clear. Do you like the
message? Is it a beautiful
message? Or is it a dark
message? A horrible
message? You see it can
be anything - it doesn't
have to be good. Even a
dark or horrible message
can be beautiful - in a
way. What the film is
really trying to do is to
engage with the viewer to get the viewer to face
something - to feel
something - which they
may or may not like. Here
- look at this - feel this how do you feel about
feeling this? How do you
feel about watching this?
Does it make you feel
good? Did you realise it's
art? It has a message. It
tells you something... can
you accept its message or
do you prefer to ignore it,
to deny it, to...

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