emptybottles, 2010
Internet blog, photography exhibition, artist book
Karol Radziszewski, artist, curator: „The photo shows a naked young couple. A boy sprawled in an armchair, and girl resting lazily on his lap. In the background, there is a wooden casing, old-school furniture and a glass of wine. An image which might be from an old Polish film. The plot is simple and universal – they meet on a sunny afternoon and spend a few joyful months together. Then she leaves. Scenery: a rented flat, Kraków, winter. The romance boasts an epilogue on Skype. The boy and girl in the photographs are something like an archetype of the Polish Adam and Eve. So normal as to be atypical. And even when I already know that the Polish Eve is really Ella and that she lives in Newcastle, that first impression remains. The camera is always close; it becomes part of the game between the partners (or maybe even their erotic toy?) The photographs are honest and unpretentious, which is without doubt their strong point. Each intimacy, however, has its own limits, which is why we have decided not to show a few frames. A specific privacy has once again turned out to be highly universal. (Looking at Grzesiek’s photos for the first time, I was very curious about what sort of music he listens to. It turned out it was jazz. He even has his own radio programme.) The exhausted convention of the snapshot seems here to be totally natural and justified. The composition, often accidental, turns out to be exceptionally aesthetic. Emptybottles is a set of photographs which could form the storyboard for a film. A classic tale, with jazz in the background. This, too, is how I thought of the whole presentation while Grzesiek −who, as he put it, “trusts me organically”) and I were preparing it together. What results might come of this in the future depends solely on him”.
emptybottles, installation view at Goldex-Poldex Cooperative, Krakow, 05-30.05.2010
emptybottles, installation view at Goldex-Poldex Cooperative, Krakow, 05-30.05.2010
