Radosław Czarkowski

NN, from the "Covers" series, 2020, acrylic on canvas, 150 x 150 cm.

Schutzer, from the "Covers" series, 2020, acrylic on canvas, 150 x 150 cm. 
Courtesy of the artist.

In paintings from the Covers series, the artist references classic works of modern art, while for the works presented in the Zielona Góra Biennale the referent is news photography. Paul Schutzer’s image of a child in a refugee camp during the Vietnam War and a photograph by an unknown author of a scene from recent violent protests in Belarus have been modified and miss captions. The author offers clues through the titles of the works, but does not explain his choice. He does not banalize, but finds in these dramatic images a point of departure for underscoring the complexity of the world. He appropriates them to voice a warning and emphasize the uniqueness of individual existence, but also explores them for formal intensity. The iconicness of the image does not prevent a radical exclusion of the portrayed. We are no longer able to care about the evil and injustice around us because media has long desensitized us to such sights.