Mandrake and potatoes: Tomasz Kręcicki and Sebastian Tröger
Artists
Tomasz Kręcicki i Sebastian Tröger
Curator
Kasia Prusik-Lutz
Opening
October 24, 2020 at 2pm – 7pm
Duration of the exhibition
October 24-November 21, 2020
Location
Kunstverein Kohlenhof, Grasersgasse 15/21, 90402 Norymberga
Organizers
Kulturzentrum Krakauer Haus i Kunstverein Kohlenhof
The exhibition Mandrake and Potatoes meets two painters: Tomasz Kręcki and Sebstian Tröger.
Mandrake is, according to the literature, a plant with magical powers. The potato was considered to be something simple, provincial. It is an exhibition of paintings of simple things that we can find in a kitchen drawer, on a desk or in front of the house. These are images of the characters we associate and the situations we experienced. However, these everyday themes have already gained magic power. Their re-proportioning, taking them out of context, turning them over to the other side, brings out a power that we do not see in them every day. A sense of humor and distancing from the subject and its history, as well as consciously playing with contexts, with the tradition of painting and art history, are treatments that connect both artists. Their painting, easy on the one hand, because (simply) presenting, takes on new meanings and plays with the knowledge and experience of the recipient. In ancient times, the fragrant mandrake berries were considered an effective potency stimulant * and fertility enhancer. The paintings of the presented painters seem to have a similar power. They stimulate our imagination, collide different worlds and superficially alien stories with each other, initiating in us a re-interpretation of objects we know. Sebastian’s performative activity refers to rituals, the old faith, to magic. In painting, he uses more rational means. But there’s a fair amount of irony in everything. Humor also accompanies the work of Tomasz, who seems to paint literally everything that appears before his eyes. Laughing at the depicted themes seems to be a form of escape for painters from pietism and often disliked seriousness. But evoked laughter does not exclude the magic that painters manage to find in the most mundane situations.
Tomasz Kręcicki, a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, is an artist appreciated on the Polish art scene, who has received numerous awards from the artistic community and cultural institutions in Poland.
* Kręcicki is a member of an artistic group called “Potencja” (eng. Fertility).
He founded the group while still studying at the Academy of Fine Arts with two of his artist friends. Today it is the most dynamically operating artistic group in Poland.
Sebastian Tröger is a painter and performer from Nuremberg, appreciated and repeatedly awarded on the German stage. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg, most recently in the class of Jürgen Teller, and also at the Design University and the Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe. He obtained his diploma from prof. Michael Munding.
