Artists

Karol Palczak

Press release

Blich, an old part of Krzywcza, Karol Palczak's hometown, takes its name from the Polish word for a bleachfield. The terms blich, blech, and Bleiche refer to an early method of bleaching canvases, which were spread out in the sun on meadows near the river. This relationship between the landscape and the character of the place leaves a distinct mark on Karol Palczak's practice. In his latest series, the artist replaces the canvas with white marble. He continues his earlier experiments with painting surfaces, in which he used galvanized metal sheets and aluminum, all aimed at bringing out the inner light of the painting. Prior to being painted, the scenes were carefully staged. Dead eels, the ribcage of a fallow deer, and borscht mixed with starch to imitate blood are the props of this staging. Using these inanimate materials, Palczak arranged the scenes in two locations: on the frozen San River, and in a garage, on a marble slab. Short films and sequences of photographs shot by the artist form a crucial part of the process. The resulting film-still-like frames are a defining feature of the series. The resulting works are unsettling, almost striking. The distinct materialities and objects gathered on the marble's stone-white surface create a surreal effect: carcass, eels, and blood. The paintings' alluring realism is set against their depiction of repulsive remains and smeared traces of blood. The artist explains: "For me, these are abstract compositions based somewhat on living matter – blood and the bodies of eels and ice..." References to classical still-life motifs resonate with subconscious anxieties, memory, and a premonition of brutal, yet undefined, events rooted in the contemporary imagination. Karol Palczak, born in 1987, graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. He was the laureate of the Bielska Jesień competition in 2019. Last September, he had a solo exhibition at Kunsthalle Zürich, which was accompanied by a monographic catalogue with texts by Kirsty Bell and Krzysztof Kościuczuk. He is represented by Foksal Gallery Foundation in Warsaw and Emalin in London. The artist lives and works in Krzywcza, Poland.