Stone faces
„It’s difficult to write about someone who doesn’t like to talk. One can only wonder whether it is caused by the lack of pondering thoughts or merely because the artist in question doesn’t feel like expressing himself in this mode. To avoid speculation I concentrate on Wit Bogusławski’s artwork, giving it appropriate attention. Next thing I know, my intuition guides me into a surprising discovery that the artist’s silence is rooted in a deep need of a dialogue and of a contact with another human being, in the sense which is very difficult in contemporary world.
Wit, just like all of us, is in constant search for happiness, acceptance and for meaningful relationships with other people. Relationships which are real, deep and full of essence. This is hardly surprising as these goals constitute the gist of life, as well as of every self-conscious artists’ work. It is the quintessence but also the nutrition for a searching and suffering soul.
In the case of our artist the effect of this search is a cycle of paintings which we may call “the Stone Cycle” also known as “Face to Face” and which was completed between the years 2005 and 2008. In his oldest works Wit seems to be unable to find a common ground of communication with another human being, even though he craves it. These works show people, as well as himself, as incongruent blocks of rock, looking with blind eyes and using stone tongues to try and communicate with one another. As such, they are unable to express what’s crucial, neither in language nor in emotions. One may project that the figures on canvas would speak with a rough, hardly verbalized and chaotic language. They would be very shy and fearful of speaking and that would be nearly paralyzing for them. One human- rock in front of another human-rock.”
„I project sculptural forms onto canvases because deep inside I feel that I’m a sculptor”, says the artist. “It seems that subconsciously I search for human traits in rocks which are incredibly fascinating for me. I am most inspired by the “Table Mountains” in Szlezwick. The Erraneous Rocks are especially important for me, not just because of their name but also because of their mysterious beauty, as well as their ungraspable nature.” The oeuvre of Wit Bogusławski, even though permeated with melancholy and with the impossibility of transgressing his own space, seems to give us a positive message. It is transmitted through the being itself of the “Stone Cycle”, through the fact that it has materialized. What’s more the message shows through the quiet dialogue that seems to lead to a meaningful narration. One can feel that the contact between the rock-humans is possible, even if difficult and “rough”. The situation displayed reminds us of tragic in construction Human-Rocks, who are trying to express themselves and communicate with one another.”
Nela Fleks - Human- Rock
