Korona

New exhibition by APT artist Michał Budny develops the fundamental themes within the practice of this extraordinary artist—struggling with the material and the space, the emotions and the architecture. “Crown” is an exacting composition of individual objects—drawn out thickly, with a distinct physicality that dominates the gallery interiors—that correspond and, in turn, provoke one another. They are all connected through a striking manifestational quality, precision and uncompromising character.

When con­sidering the works of Michał Budny, one is con­sisten­tly awed by the noble, sub­dued power packed into those simple, natural gestures, materials and forms. The latest exhibition develops the fun­damen­tal themes within the prac­tice of this extraordinary artist in a new way—struggling with the material and the space, the emotions and the architec­ture. Unlike 2012′s “Żywica” (Resin) exhibition, which played out on the sur­face of the walls, this time the artist brings forth spatial objects of museum stature, as if they’d been drawn out thic­kly, with a distinct physicality that dominates the gal­lery interiors. They are all con­nec­ted through a striking manifestational quality, precision and uncom­promising charac­ter. “Crown” is an exac­ting com­position of individual objects that cor­respond and, in turn, provoke one another.

The nature of Budny’s works is ambivalence, and here, too, we are dealing with a deftly provoked illusion. The seemin­gly heavy pil­lars char­red black on the out­side are, in fact, hollow on the inside. The abs­tract lexicon of the forms incor­porated by the artist is full of allusions to primary gestures and meaning­ful shapes, such as the “Crown” of the title, but at the same time, it releases these objects from an over­tly straight­for­ward conc­lusion. 

The idea discus­sed by Budny over the course of his work on the show was that of strength—at times unexpec­ted and dif­ficult to subdue, but also fascinating, pres­sing, shaping. In taking a closer look at each individual piece, it is possible to detect a deter­ministic strike, the presence of an undefined, exter­nal force that created them in a spirit that didn’t neces­sarily avoid violence—cutting or bur­ning. The qualities of Budny’s latest works are rooted in physicality, great­ness and, at times, sheer for­titude, his emotional response to the material con­dition of con­tem­poraneity, and most of all, the shifting political and social climate.

The past year (2015) has been par­ticularly intense for Michał Budny. In that time, he has realized an instal­lation for Union Station in Toronto (as part of the Villa Toronto project), a joint project with Czech artist Jaromír Novotný in Ostrava, as well as solo shows at Berlin’s Nor­den­hake gal­lery and Saarbrücken’s Saar­land­museum, most impor­tan­tly. On the occasion of the latter a new book, “Żywica”, devoted to his artistic prac­tice was published (available for pur­chase at the gal­lery bookshop).