Krzysztof Furtas

Born in 1985, student of the Geppert Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, Faculty of Painting and Sculpture (2007-2012), diploma in painting entitled “End”,supervised by Prof. Stanisław Kortyka and Michał Sikorski (2012), diploma annexe in the Multimedia Studio (Prof. Paweł Jarodzki).

Spectral painting. Krzysztof Furtas

Krzysztof Furtas is a continuator of painting minimalism, expressed in content and colour economy, serving to describe the emptiness of emotions, objects and phenomena. His main motif is vacuity and most of his paintings are sad in their mood, a reaction to the broadly understood sense of loss. The starting point of his harsh imagery, deliberately avoiding formal abundance, is the relationship between the author and painting as a discipline, which he describes as constant struggle with the attributes of the medium.

In an interview about his painting, he explains the reasons for the radical reduction of expressive means: “The way I feel and see it, currently painting is discredited, ridiculed, almost entirely futile. Due to its inherently aestheticizing character, it has been trapped in the formalistic approach to it. The essence of painting is still understood as decoration, or the avant-garde of decoration at most. Hence the difficulty of its participation in the mainstream of artistic expression. That is why my painting intuitively approximates aesthetic failure, visual defeat. Abandoning the ballast of formal beauty, I attempt to escape the banality, approaching truth and honesty in art.”

This is the intellectual foundation of his painting efforts, but also other, non-artistic activities – as early as at the beginning of his career the notions of crisis, fear and uncertainty were already easy to detect. It is a rare and disturbing attitude among young artists today, whose work is rather full of vitality. The fact that he entitled his diploma show “End” makes this approach even more radical.

The representatives of crisis in Furtas’ painting are History and Religion – the blurred silhouettes of buildings (temples) and the symbols (Star of David, crosses) inserted in the hazy landscape. Some of his works were inspired by the energy connected with the past and its inherent fear. In this sense, the artist’s work may be associated with the category of postmemory, which is the commitment to the traumas of previous generations.

Krzysztof Furtas’ spectral painting, based on the principally protective attitude (declared “aesthetic withdrawal” and “visual defeat”), becomes compatible with the theme it touches upon. However, the viewer is confronted with a degree of emotion that was not foreseen by the author – the aesthetic satisfaction which you experience when exposed to the softness and indefiniteness of his painting.       

Anna Kołodziejczyk

Krzysztof Furtas

Born in 1985, studied at the Geppert Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, Faculty of Painting and Sculpture (2007-2012). His diploma in painting, entitled “End”,was supervised by Prof. Stanisław Kortyka and Michał Sikorski (2012), diploma annexe in the Multimedia Studio – by Prof. Paweł Jarodzki. He curated and co-ran the EMDES Gallery in Wrocław in 2010-2011. Deals in painting, video and installation.

Selected exhibitions:

• Wild Thing, BWAStudi