half–empty / half-full
27th May 2011 – 8th June 2011. Galeria Nova ul. Batorego 2, Kraków

The coagulation of the body requires hurry in action, distinctness and self-control. During execution of posthumous masks records the pull off features of the face, turned a blind eyelid and tighted mouth of dead. During this appears extra wrinkles and cups, that wasn’t on the face during a lifetime. After carving and ordering gypsum’s or waxses negative it serves as a model for luxurious monument or commemorative tombstone. History of culture, always accompanied persistent trials of stopping the body: mummification, anbalming, smoking, mindful rubbing each part of the skin with special substances. In different processes from dead tissues people ussualy removed water and fat that stopped decomposition. Becouse of it corpse stayed dry. Liquidless and stiffened they exposed machinery of vitals designed in ideal order. Perfectly packed in the skin bag.
In her creative activity, Małgorzata Markiewicz many times reached to the problem of body immobilization. In concrete sarcophaguses she flooded dresses, she kept in prison on strings or put into the boxes colorfull wollen or felten globules. Around the concrete cubes she tightly wraped blankets or woll. She warmed and soften what was angular, stiff, uncomftable. Clothes always fascinaited her as a temporary, each day restored form for body, absorbent human liquids and smells second skin. This time consolidating parts of dear for her bodies, she decieded to reach for plasticine, downgraded, and childish material. So come into being soft, coffins portraits, that encourage to knead and squash between fingers.
Black plasticine is not in this case a temporary stage, but a destination by itself. From everyday experiance, we know how hard it is scratch it from the carpet or lining. How fast hair and dust glue to it. Easily it became disgusting. Using this low-grade, declasse matter let to think about what sallow, dead, grave. Plasticine sweats like body. Signifites traces of her presence by damp forms. In bas-relief Markiewicz excretes fat that filter into another side of the paper, that they’ve been sticked on. During staining it remind about not comftable and embarrassing lustfulness.
Similarly like ussing often in artist creation worn out clothes, plasticine has coded in her form associations about the body, especially its warmly. Plasticine remember strenght of kneading hands, arrangement of lines upon the finger tips, fingernails traces. Plasticine is prone to changes. It deforms like broken bone or black and blue from hitting skin. Just like sewing, crocheting or needlework, modeling plasticine seems to be something easy, filling time, calming mantra for fingers. Markiewicz pours into small, soft forms her fears and feelings. During the creation process she struggles with obssesions giving them shapes. She finds very comftable mouth for them. Creation is here bearing and spliting out at the same time.
Artist sticks on the paper schematically plasticine tree, horse, house, human and mountain. Black silhouettes creates inpression well-known, domestic. They compose in one wholeness with spectators imaginations. Like breakaway during separation plate, which halfs of it in ancient times were distinctive sign for two people, who’s relationship wanted to be replenished, no matter if it was friendship, businesses, responsibilities or feelings. Becoming from her verb symballo means „to collect” or „to compare”, „to assemble”. And so plasticine forms extracts impressions and shapes, about which spectator had only foggy filling. Matrixes that artist is doing in plasticine are forms, in which she loads her own shapes, supplements witch detals, stuffs witch remembered pictures. As a negatives they invites to fill. They tempt guarantee reconstruction of original. Dearest bodies-one’s own could stayed in this way, they could be again developed as a photos. Bring them into being. From the begining.
Plasticine matrix look like different bodies-objects. Somebodies foot with painted in red nails leaning on deckchairs edge. The part of not suntanned skin revealed under one’s arm, or on stomach near unruly, unfold clothes. Spotted by accident breast, which is normally sedulously covered. Sweat hand that indolently pull out from clenched it during goodbye hands.
Black plasticine stays in this ritual of remembering as something unexplored, indeterminate and unknown.Forces attention and concentration. Using it causes that Markiewicz’s bas- relief seems to be charred. They seems to fall to pieces from finger’s touch. As an asches of forgotten culture they’re very prone to destruction. They stratifies and crumbles like a worn- out voluble. They oppose every tries of penetration. They don’t want to give up any kind of examination or verification.
Curator: Marta Lisok
NOVA Gallery

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