mainly video and performance, and Sławomir Czajkowski, who won last time, presented a large, mural-inspired painting inside the gallery, similar to those he paints on the walls of various cities. The competition jurors have often been more interested in the topic or issue presented by these works than the actual technical skills displayed by artists expressing themselves within the framework of the painting genre. By asking the seemingly banal question “What does a painter do?”, the curators of this anniversary, 10th edition of the Geppert Competition, return to the rudimentary question of painting, and again intend to show the event’s direction of interest. What makes this competition different from others in Poland, usually focusing on particular media, is that it is so unorthodox in its approach to painting. On the other hand, it is not a new approach. It is a well-known fact that those artists who consider themselves predominantly painters have for centuries been perfectly able to transfer their expression to other, non-painting media. Yet there is one more message to the viewers and artists which I can see in this year’s theme. By using the first-person singular question form, Patrycja Sikora and Wojciech Pukocz try to focus our attention on the fact that each of the competitors is highly individual and original in their artistic approach. The works of artists participating in the Geppert Competition should be perceived and judged as unique, inimitable propositions. What does a painter do today, then? After all, we cannot expect that he or she spends hours in front of the easel, wearing a paint-splashed apron, with a brush in one hand and a palette in the other. Today’s painters are equally likely to be using spray, scissors and glue, graphic processing computer programmes, a video camera, plaster, the Internet and other tools which enable them to discover the painter’s world. Modern technologies and the possibility of combining techniques allow the modern artist to maximise the choice of means which help create the final work. While
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back in the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s it was considered innovative to include video techniques in artistic work, today it is hardly original any more. Contemporary progress in knowledge offers the most fantastic possibilities imaginable, and its developments are often “tested” in art. The only elements which allow us to distinguish the valuable works are their degree of maturity, preparation and intellectual potential. Perhaps that is why the Geppert Competition still refers in its principles to the tradition of painting. This medium, so semantically spacious, is at the same time the most rudimentary means associated with artistic expression. It is therefore notable that over all the years of the competition similarities among the works have been extremely rare. The board of experts selects the contestants carefully enough to avoid copies or repetitions from other, well-established artists. At any given time, audiences visiting the exhibition are guaranteed to see a range of different ways of expression, viewpoints and artistic inspirations. And perhaps this is the biggest potential and secret of success of the Wrocław competition, which has evolved to its current, impressive reputation. Personally, I am excited about this year’s selection of artists. I have decided to give up the function of the general curator of the competition in favour of a mere membership in the board of experts. Out of the nearly fifty entries submitted at the beginning, we chose twentyfive most interesting debuting artistic personalities. One of the things we noticed was that many of them were not as anonymous as it had been the case in the previous editions. The reality in which today’s students of art have to function forces them to begin their efforts to be publicly noticed even before graduation. Until recently, most teachers tried to save their students from being confronted with gallery audiences too early, fearing that the young artist’s sensitivity may be unnecessarily exposed to the influence of fashionable trends. This approach seems anachronistic, though. A contemporary artist should be aware of the environment he or she is bound to face and
1OTH EUGENIUSZ GEPPERT COMPETITION ——— WHAT DOES A PAINTER DO?
problems to be confronted with – exactly in order to employ his or her own personality in working out an individual language of expression, devoid of the naive “painter” stereotype. The 10th edition of the Geppert Competition may in this sense be a breakthrough. Many of its participants are already quite skilful players on the Polish art scene. They exhibit their works in galleries, get reviewed by critics, some have signed sales contracts. This is a clear indication that they must be treated seriously. No matter who is actually going to win the competition, all the shortlisted artists are potential winners. They have managed to draw the interest of a number of contemporary art specialists. The competition itself evolves together with its contestants. And it is their individual artistic attitudes, as well as the professionalism with which they approach their own work, that is the biggest guarantee of the significance of this event.
Wrocław, 24 sierpnia 2011
Posiedzenie Rady Ekspertów nominujących do 10. Konkursu Gepperta, ASP Wrocław, maj 2011 Board of Experts nominating artists to the 10th Geppert Competition, Academy of Fine Arts, Wroclaw, May 2011, fot./phot. P. Sikora
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TEXTS