Artists: Rafał Bujnowski, Michelle Rawlings
The word forms in Polish means both shapes—on the surface, as well as three-dimensional ones —but also possible ways of behavior. The word is also associated with a modern revolution in art: with the idea of creating new artistic and social forms. The joint exhibition of Rafał Bujnowski and Michelle Rawlings shows the painterly experience from two completely different places in the world—American Texas and southern Poland, which is connected by the interest in elementary forms and the construction of a painting. Both artists use painting in their own peculiar way, acting completely differently. Bujnowski limits his artistic means to a bare minimum, forming images with single, quick, almost mechanical brush strokes. Rawlings on the other hand takes simple pictures found in magazines or girlish Instagram accounts and converts them into paintings: sophisticated, time-consuming and meticulous—in terms of her workshop. However the effect in both cases is similar—a fascinating game with a world overloaded with mechanical images, offering the viewer a return to a “handwritten” gesture and modern discipline of form.
Rafał Bujnowski – 1974 Born in Wadowice, Poland, Graduated MFA, Graphic Arts Department, Academy of Fine Arts, Krakow, PL. Work and lives in Warsaw. One of the most radical and intelligent contemporary painters in his generation, Bujnowski’s works are a brilliant blend of two seemingly remote artistic disciplines – painting and conceptual art. The Bujnowski’s successive projects include paintings, videos, objects or actions.
Michelle Rawlings – 1980 Born in Dallas, TX. 2006 BA, School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, MA 2012 MFA, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI. Lives and works in Dallas. Rawlings’ intimate painting combines visual brilliance and multiplicity with reticent contemplation.