Kornel Janczy
Born in 1984, he lives and works in Limanowa.
Kornel Janczy’s work, which must be seen as part of the post-conceptual tradition in art, draws his inspiration from geographical atlases. He is fascinated with abstract structures used in the delineation of geographical shapes in maps – the originally natural forms which were then carefully surveyed by geographers and cartographers. It seems that the interest originates in his fascination with the transfer from natural shapes to the language of written records and documentation worked out by the human mind. This approach is observed e.g. in the drawings of parallel contour lines (“Mountains”, 2011) or point compositions reflecting the structure of population of one area (“People”, 2011). Similarly, in the photographs of landscapes, he notices the abstract play of forms, which he then completes (“Atlas”, 2009-2010). In turn, the compositions inspired directly by atlases, except the political ones in this case, feature state borderlines (“Borders”, 2011) and outlines of nonexistent countries (“Countries”, 2011). The projects display the abstract potential of initial shapes which are impossible to separate from the political context, founded by humans and determined by historical turmoil.
The artist undertakes to mock, ridicule, lay bare or even criticize the divisions created in the course of centuries. In his drawings added to the photographs, he inserts cynical messages, like e.g. “Better than us” or “Worse than us” on the other side of the border (“Geo”, 2011). On another occasion, the artist puts up a sign post, or a notice board, in the middle of a ploughed field, which says “Down Under” (“Signs”, 2012). He is intrigued by time play rather than space. On a tree trunk, he carves out a message from the future: “I’ll be here” (2013). The artist’s most recent works from 2013 show his well-aimed and witty perception of the tradition of minimalist art, in which the scarcity of means of expression is harmonized with the perfect sense of exhibition space, as featuring in his works “Grass”, “Lotto Machine” or “Corner”. What is especially memorable, though, is his travesty of romantic landscape in a composition of wheat flour and a red sphere, entitled “The Sun Behind the Mountains” (2013).
Krzysztof Siatka
Kornel Janczy
Education:
- Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow, Faculty of Painting, 2005-2010
- Akademie der Bildenden Kunste, Munich, 2009
Individual exhibitions:
- Niepolska, BWA Sokół Gallery of Contemporary Art, Nowy Sącz, 2012
- Deep Field, Galeria Nova, Cracow, 2011
Collective exhibitions:
- “Verbrecher und Dekorateure”, Gabriele Senn Galerie, Vienna, 2012
- “Je abstrakter die Kunst wird, desto mehr wird sie Kunst”, Bestregarts Gallery, Frankfurt, 2012
- “Kinderspiele”, Zbiornik Kultury, Cracow, 2011
- “Salon”, Cracow, 2010
- “Master and Students”, Tarnowskie Góry, 2009
- “306”, Cracow, 2009
- “Gegen Uber”, ADBK, Munich, 2009
- “half-way point”, Open Studio, Cracow, 2008
- “poligon project”, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, Poland, 2008
