There are aesthetic artists and fighting artists. I belong to the latter – says Jolanta Wdowczyk. The inspiration for my work is contemporary reality and its disharmony. Studying films, news and political programs, I peek at world and its problems, the great ones and the small ones. In my work I want to talk about them simply and casually, without any implied meanings. Aggression, rape, violence, war, death, destroying the environment, undermined human-human relationships are serious problems, to which I try to turn the viewer’s attention. I want to sensitise people to the adverse changes taking place in the modern world and to the changes that occur in ourselves, and also to draw attention to the necessity of responding rapidly to these changes. I want to sensitise people to good, kindness, peace. Contrary to popular belief that the posters have already had their day, they are for me a part of socio-political situation in which I create, and where at the same time the recipient is located; and thus the communication between us is possible. We pass by many things indifferently, yet they are also parts of the world around us, all this can still touch us as well. My posters are supposed to scream and seek attention. I don’t care for a „watched” image; I want a „remembered” image. The „Designing opposition” series is the common denominator for two collections of works. „Only a poster” – large-format posters, and „Not only a poster” – posters in fabric. Black and white large format posters are very ascetic in form, which is obviously intentional. Abbreviation, synthesis, asceticism are supposed to turn these into huge PICTOGRAMS OF PROTEST. In these works, a very important role is played by typography and wordplay. „Only a poster” is a prelude, a peculiar „sketch” for creating spatial installations containing poster objects – „PATOOBIEKTY”. I use various formats, but they are all of considerable sizes – vertical and horizontal works, diptychs and triptychs, installations suspended in space. The difference between a large format poster and a poster in fabric lies not only in the formal solutions, but also in the way they depict a human being. In the „Only a poster” collection, the human figure does not appear directly, but we feel his presence – „an executioner” and „a victim”, while in the „Not only a poster” collection, there are free reconstructions of the human form. My characters, however, have to be deprived of individuality, symbolically coloured. It could be any woman. Posters created on a freely hanging fabric are like linen curtains, flags, „expanded” information, messages.
Jolanta Wdowczyk
Since 1998, Assistant Professor at the Department of Arts Education at the Faculty of Pedagogy and Art of the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. Since 2007, she is the head of the Graphic Design Studio. She paints, draws and creates graphics. Does interior design. She also creates stage design. Organised fifteen solo exhibitions and participated in over 90 group exhibitions.
Important exhibitions:
1991 – „Fundersam landskap”, Municipal Gallery in Finspang (Sweden)
1995 – XIV Biennial of Polish Poster, BWA ,Katowice
1998 – III National Competition for Posters for Work Safety, CIOP, Warsaw
2002 – „Europastello” – European Pastel Competition, Cuneo (Italy)
2003 – VI International Graphic Annual, Stockholm (Sweden) (honourable mention)
2003 – European Art Festival, Sankt Petersburg (Russia)
2004 – II International Pastel Biennial in Nowy Sącz
2005 – „Artists-Teachers”, Gustav Lubcke Museum, Hamm (Germany)
2006 – „Polish Artists for Children” – Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in New York (USA)
2010 – Exhibition titled „Responsibility for the Truth”,
Weaving Gallery „Na Jatkach”, Wrocław 2011 – „Kalisz Salon”, BWA Gallery, Kalisz
2012 – VII International Biennial of Artistic Linen „From Loom to Loom” – Grand Prix
2013 – „Cats in the City Hall” Gementhuis, Heerhugowaard (the Netherlands)
2013 – ART- EXPO, Maurice Schumann Culture Centre, Hautmont (France) 1st Prize