AN EXTENSION OF THE BATTLE ZONE OR A HOPE-FILLED LANDSCAPE? On Joanna Buchowska’s painting with paper
“There is nothing that cuts you down to size like coming to some strange and marvellous place where no one even stops to notice that you stare about you.”
R. Adams, Watership Down, 1972
“He was part of my dream, of course – but then I was part of his dream, too!”
L. Carroll, Through the Looking Glass, 1871
Painting is often seen as the most humanistic field of visual creativity. How, therefore, can it be succinctly defined? Perhaps as a kind of illusoriness, an attempt to perceive the world through the energy that is inherent in colour and form? Certainly, it is also a question of convention, since it is material, and demands knowledge and skill. What can one say about contemporary painting when critics claim that its prospects are weak, while others are of the view that after years of installations, digital photography, video art, body art and actionism of all kinds, centuries-old traditional painting is regaining its respectability? Are there any boundaries at all that still apply to painting today? It appears that since artists have discovered new ways of using this medium, contemporary painting is no longer restricted by technical forms. Only its most essential feature, namely that of two-dimensionality, as well as other qualities such as colour arrangement and composition, remain. Certainly, a peculiar disintegration of form would appear to correspond to the disintegration of the world today. What abilities should painters still have apart from talent and technical skill? Above all, the capacity to create an expression for their own individuality. The peril of art is no doubt its repeatability, since everything has already been done in the past... However, what has already existed in one form or another can still be re-interpreted and differently combined. A new quality can be achieved from the collision of often opposite elements.
The collage was already used in imperial China, yet this term only became a consciously used form of artistic expression in modern art with the surrealist works of Max Ernst. Put simply, the collage is the creation of one’s own composition of a new work, which is produced by combining fragments of different materials – usually paper, sometimes also scraps of fabric. As a rule, collages are one-dimensional, but they can also take the form of a relief. The sculptural version is an assemblage, for which items are alienated from their original purpose of use and are altered in accordance with the artist’s intentions. The French verb coller means “to glue”. But can gluing also constitute painting? Transformation forms a counterweight to repeatability, to the avoidance of the attempt to quote oneself; it is a decisive step forwards. You can never entirely foresee what the impact will be of a break with the technical characteristics of a familiar medium and a subsequent radical change to the previous creative process. That is why the determination by Joanna Buchowska to one day make a new start, to leave her comfort zone, to give up everything associated with the practice that had brought her success to date – namely painting at the easel – is not an emotional artistic gesture that highlights the form, but rather an impressive declaration of creative maturity. It took her many years to make such a step. It required a masterful command of her craft (of which several of the classic artists might be envious!), then the development of a fully self-assured approach to her achievements to date, in other words, the awareness and distinctiveness of her individual form. Thus, transformation becomes a means of artistic survival, and the choice of collage, and painting with collage, her alternative take on modernity and independence as a painter.
Joanna personifies candour and purest enthusiasm, both in life and in art. Should she therefore have remained immobile in the face of a rapidly changing reality? Not with her temperament! Her originality is a resource in itself, which counters banality. She has changed her technique, but not her artistic form of narration. Her art continues to stand out for its sensorial approximation both to the depicted world and to the viewer, whom she likes and respects. And as before, in her current work, there is no space for pointless special effects, stylistic tricks or the filling of empty space with a play of forms that has not been thought through. With a full command of the “trusted material”, she is aware of what happens in her images, and for what purpose, since her work is always created according to its own conditions.
Her new language of communication is accessible and seductive, as was her painting with colours not such a long time ago. By observing reality through the prism of her own perspective, she does not disregard the three basic features of painting and, following the theory of Kandinsky, she retains point, line and plane. She glues cut-outs from newspapers, magazines and paper of all types onto the image carrier and uses Indian ink, ink, marker pens, and sometimes acrylic paint. Of course she varnishes. Sometimes, even... with nail varnish. If you look at her work close up, you can see outstanding composition, almost without visible joins. That’s how the extraordinary magic of her pictures works. But what, in fact, is a picture? Some people are attracted by its monetary appeal, while for others, it has a taste of adventure and the continual discovery of a wondrous existence in a parallel world, through which Joanna Buchowska guides us without any of the ever-present haste, with genuine passion and with heartfelt emotion. She comments on this world without words, using colour and composition. For her, even the search for this one piece of paper that is needed for the next vision is already a highly exciting journey and the start of a dialogue with the viewer.
Every creative process entails a continuous stream of decisions. And although her art evades the classic labels, she foregoes over-intellectual moralising; she simply wants to paint about something. For example, about her fascination with the landscape, how she sees the landscape, and whether that landscape can offer a good counterweight to the sensory overload in the reality around us. The recreation of real places in nature in her works retreats in the face of the scenes dictated by her unusual imagination. Often, they are a veduta or an urban landscape, the main point of reference of which is an architectural element. Sometimes, she uses a staffage, then guiding the viewer’s attention to a forlorn figure with a strange face, in which we do not always recognise a human being. Perhaps it is a reaction to the anonymity enforced by the system? Sometimes, she presents a common situation; sometimes, a paradoxical circumstance. The question is to what extent she continues the tradition of landscape painting, and how far she extends beyond its framework. She entwines intimacy and autobiographic metaphors with universal themes, which expand the context of her message. At the same time, she is wary of the pervasive mediocrity of the art world. Sometimes, the messages are brief; sometimes, there are longer stories, which are reduced or extended, seen from close up or from far away, from above, at eye level or from below. Her perspective either follows the norm or is disrupted, remains convergent as in the classic urban landscapes, or is achieved using contrasting colours. In general, however, her messages are never transposed into simple reproductions. The combination of the real world (realistic photographs) and artistic transformation express the purest, most authentic, pictorial emotion of the artist. The frequent use of humour, contrast, and a composition of newspaper cut-outs that defy expectation serve the purpose of drawing the viewers into a fascinating game in which the artist allows them to follow their own paths of interpretation. She never assaults the viewers with a flood of information, and respects their decisions, while at the same time clearly preferring offline meetings: in person, between people.
And that is precisely what we are missing in this mad world of the Internet, and what we find in Joanna Buchowska’s works: namely compassion, friendliness, a kind of silence, seclusion and at the same time, sensitivity towards the other person. She is alert and challenging – both in relation to herself and to the viewers of her work. Here, I don’t just mean educated viewers; those who are just starting to engage with art are also given a chance. With her strong commitment to self-reflection, she doesn’t exclude herself from the process, and uses her own image as a self-deprecating perception of her position as an artist. On the one hand, she depicts a world reduced to behaviouristic reactions, while on the other, a yearning for the lost half of herself... Of ourselves?
Although Joanna Buchowska is familiar with the cultural and aesthetic depression of the 21st century, she has succeeded in making a precise diagnosis and in being receptive to the post-pandemic mood with a high degree of sensitivity. During these times of extreme tensions and fundamental changes, the loss in her pictures is interwoven with a liberating affirmation. Looking at these images is like taking a journey into the unknown, and yet also the familiar... With regard to direct contact with art, Mieczysław Porębski once said that the viewer has to want to live in the picture. For over a dozen years, I have been living with a picture by Joanna Buchowska – and we are still in a state of perfect symbiosis.
Magda Potorska, July 2023
Official website of Joanna Buchowska
Key stipends and artist’s residencies
Käthe Dorsch Stipendium, Berlin 2009
Artist in Residency, Finland, 2009
Artist in Residency, Bulgaria, 2010
Stipend, Herrenhaus Edenkoben, 2016
Stipend, Kulturprojekte Berlin, Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa, 2019
Stipend of the Stiftung Kulturwerk der VG Bild-Kunst, 2020
Subjective selection of exhibitions
“Abschied vom nüchternen Tag” (“Farewell to the Sober Day”)/ Galerie DER ORT/ Berlin / solo exhibition/ 2008
“KRAJ” – sztuka artystów polskiego pochodzenia/ (‘THE COUNTRY’ – Art by Artists of Polish Origin)/ Galeria Sztuki Współczesnej Opole/ group exhibition/ 2008
“Adalbertstr. 9 + – Muscle Temple Painting Society”/ Helsinki Contemporary/ Helsinki, Finland/ group exhibition/ 2012
“was, wenn es umgekehrt wäre” (“What if it were reversed”)/ Walden Kunstausstellungen/ Berlin/ solo exhibition/ 2018
“Buchowska/ Weinsčlucker”/ Kunstverein Familie Montez/ Frankfurt/Main/ dual exhibition with Sador Weinsčlucker/ 2019
“Die Dritte Hälfte” (“The Third Half”)/ Galerie Martin Mertens/ Berlin/ solo exhibition/ 2022
“Vorhersagbarkeit der Freude” (“Predictability of Joy”)/ Till Richter Museum, Schloss Buggenhagen/ solo exhibition/ 2022
“Fait accompli”/ Galerie Karin Sachs/ Munich/ solo exhibition/ 2023
“à bout portant”/ Galerie Anna25/ Berlin/ solo exhibition/ 2023
“I got The News While” – Joanna Buchowska in conversation with Robert Rauschenberg/ ArtKlub Bonn/ 2023
