Bartek JARMOLINSKI (b. 1975), Judith, 2007

acrylic, canvas; 90 x 71 cm;
Signed l. d.: B. JARMOLIÑSKI; author's description on reverse: "JUDITH" 2007 / B.JARMOLINSKI.
Graduate of the Wladyslaw Strzeminski Academy of Fine Arts in Lodz (defended his diploma in 2001 in the Drawing Studio under Prof. Roma Hałat at the Department of Visual Education). He is one of the most intensely developing contemporary artists in Lodz, actively participating in Polish cultural life through participation in reviews of contemporary art (Bielska Jesień, Piotrkowskie Biennale of Art, Triennale of Contemporary Polish Painting in Rzeszów. He has participated in many group exhibitions in Poland and abroad, among the most notable were the projects of Gallery Zero in Berlin, House and Tower of Krakow in Nuremberg, Kolner Haus in Cologne, The Bike Shed/ in Inverness, Het Strijkijzer in The Hague, Inchmore Galery in Inchmore). Starting from the conventions of pop art, poster art and hyperrealism, Bartek Jarmolinski has developed his own language of painterly expression, through which he comments on - and creates - the reality around him. In his works: canvases, photographs, objects and videos, he takes up the problems affecting the 21st century European, functioning in the world of consumption, the dictates of mass-media, the aestheticization of the street, the manipulation of the human image, the imbalance between the spheres of sacrum and profanum. Bartek with distance and self-irony shows himself - a contemporary artist and heroes of modernity, entangled in strange relationships and situations, created for the needs of pop culture. He is interested in contemporary saints (painting series Santo Subito, 2008- 2012), the public image and social role of the artist (photography series titled Polish Export, 2009), blurring the line between fiction and reality (painting series Impossible, 2012), problems of gender identity (photography series Confession after hours, 2008-2009), dependencies and correspondences between art and politics (Conflict as a source of values/Dresses, objects from 2011-2012). Bartek Jarmolinski's art is problematic and highly topical. It is art that asks the viewer important and difficult questions about human existence, national past and future, local identity, values that are important and timeless for today's man. Its stylized decorativeness, which can be found especially in the paintings, is the artist's response to the aestheticization of mass culture, behind which lie the fears, phobias and anxieties inherent in each of us. His works expose the system of creation and functioning of many stereotypes in today's reality from the attempt to define the concept of "man" to the man who has become a product for sale and the consequences that follow. "Gloria artis"-video/2013, "Reactions"/2012, "Confessions after hours"-video,/2009, "Shame"/2010 are films in which he appears as the main character, treating his body as the main tool for expression in the issues undertaken by the author. These are records of his performance performed to camera. He also occasionally performs in front of an audience. Among the most significant are "Fact"/2012, "What do you expect from art"/2011 or "Ein Kunstler aus Polen ein gutes produkt"/2010. Bartek Jarmolinski has had 30 solo exhibitions and participated in dozens of exhibitions in Poland, Scotland, Ukraine, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands.