Biotop

Grzegorz Siembida’s Biotope is a comprehensive and holistic exhibition. The entire space of the gallery complements the pictures, creating a peculiar environment.

Siembida’s abstractions pulsate with bright colors. They are created by forms overlapping one another, spreading like lakes on a map, additionally speckled with points, zigzags, stripes and spirals. The specific structure of his art seems to be an inanimate environment in which some species could find a habitat. Each of the elements of his large-format canvases is dependent on the others; the lack of a single ingredient would immediately disturb relations in this environment. The Biotope as an exhibition is a system in which nothing can be added or subtracted, so as not to disturb the equilibrium. The spirals drawn with a spray resemble the illustrations of the DNA double helix, a symbol of the interdependence of individual parts with each other, but also the manifestation of life and its evolution in general.

If you try to read the creative process as a metaphor for evolution, it can undoubtedly be done on the example of Siembida’s practice. Each of his cycles is separated by a clear caesura – before starting a new one, he hides all finished works and paints the walls white. Each cycle starts with collages. The pieces of torn pages come in different variants, although they have common qualities within one cycle. These “organisms” adapt to existence, transforming into acrylic, gouache, spray and oil pastel on acid-free paper. Various stages of development seem to lead to canvases.

Siembida’s biophilic tendency to expose the non-representability of life and its emanation makes him use a paradox. The shapes used evoke images of inanimate matter, but at the same time vibrating, as if life processes were taking place in it, taking place in spite of it, in order to emphasize the unstoppable organicist energy. By substituting for a habitat, the artist offers nothing more than a surrogate for it. It is a test of our adaptability; according to Benjamin’s “second nature” concept, we should cope with it, as the Biotope is a structure inspired by nature.

From the formal point of view, Siembida’s art is not only an encounter between Tashism and Pop Art; it also contains qualities that can be derived from biomorphism, and moreover, by inviting the viewer to build a specific ecosystem, it intriguingly extends the artistic experience with a participatory strategy. The viewer, being a fake biocenosis, completes the biotope, thus closing the artist’s work. Everything that is living and organic will create an ecosystem, and evolution will adapt life to function in it.

Robert Domżalski

“A characteristic feature of my works is the collage of the image plane, built on the principle of juxtaposing extremely different means of artistic expression. Their provenance oscillates between a Tachist gesture and the rigorous rhythm of a “printing” raster, reminiscent of the abstract works of Roy Lichtenstein. The seemingly chaotic composition contains an internal order in which each of the elements used plays an equally important role. The balance between an uncontrolled gesture and a precisely defined stain that appears in its surroundings builds the tension and drama of the composition. Dichotomy manifests itself in my paintings on many levels. Sweeping spray marks, reminiscent of hastily scribbles associated with vandalism, have been blended into a flat, precise stain made with oil paint, which in turn is an equivalent of the legacy of easel painting and the so-called high culture. Two extremely different means of expression found on the painting plane not only a common space of coexistence, but above all they were inextricably linked to create one common painting value. The tension that accompanies this clash reflects the essence of my painting, which is the confrontation of two extremely different elements and the study of the potential of their coexistence. The space in my works is disturbed and not obvious, sometimes a fragment of the painting seems to be in the foreground, other times the same fragment moves away, changing the perception of the whole work. This kind of liveliness of the images means that each time we look at them, we discover new fragments, previously invisible or overlooked.”

Grzegorz Siembida