The young Polish painter, Pawel Ksiazek, presents a the Salzburger Kunstverein, his first solo exhibition in an Austrian institution.
The artist collected images of anonymous people on the Internet for the series "N.N. vs. Artists," which is comprised of over 40 pieces on view at the Salzburger Kunstverein. These unsettling images show young people in "consciousness expanding" activities, usually involving alcohol and sex. The subject matter treads a fine line between pranks, sadism, and abuse. This impression is reinforced in these artistically transposed images through art historical references, such as to Caravaggio or Vienna Actionism. The references to actionist and performative practices from the 1960s and 70s are structured in the exhibition as a visual dictionary.
Pawel Ksiazek's art projects stand out through the intense research and the interest in visual issues. His series, "Africanized Honey Bees", "Sylvia Plath", or "Silent Utopia", deal with subjects like racism, depression, or the utopian potential of modernist architecture in Poland in the 1920s.
In cooperation with the Vienna Polish Institute.
Pawel Ksiazek, born 1973 in Andrychow, lives and works in Krakow.
All images and text courtesy of Salzburger Kunstverein.
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