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Szymon Ryczek »
GRAFIKA
Recapturing Values
The attitude presented by Szymon Ryczek, assuming an open
manifestation of a particular ideological and worldview perspective
in art, is not popular among young artists. It can also be risky. Art
characterised by religiousness often tends to be simplified and
pretentious. In this context it would be good to cite the author who
says: The lie of the work of art consists in the fact that evil often
looks a lot more attractive than good. The image of good seems to
be dull, with a tendency to turn into mundane bigotry. My goal is to
create works of art which never glorify nothingness, facing death
with a song that praises goodness, the divine creation. It happens
that I present the image of evil, but I never praise it. I illustrate the
states of the human soul in a symbolic way, encouraging everybody
to reflect on their own soul.
Only the artist’s exceptional care about the craftsmanship,
a balance between the message and formal content can result
in a work of art which has real value and appeals to the viewer.
Szymon Ryczek is aware of this fact. His works are worked out,
technically good subtle graphics. His woodcuts and plaster prints
are universal. The theme evoked by a biblical motif relates to the
issues which have been crucial from the point of view of every
human being from the very beginning of our existence. The works
touch universal problems, the system of moral-ethical values, and in
a wider context, the relation man – God. The theme originates from
the conviction that the modern man is losing ties with the absolute,
and transcendence has been less and less important in our life.
Such a claim corresponds with those who advocate for the need
to return to the eternal values that strengthen the world order and
give inner peace to the man. Szymon Ryczek talks about it from
his own perspective and for his own sake. Thus his graphics are
an edifying message full of narrative and anecdotal references. The
artist relates to the biblical parables and their fundamental motifs,
which are the obviously universal content and values, at the same
time pointing to the modern man (and himself), to important moral
dilemmas, to what constitutes human faith, love, responsibility and
steadfastness. They are important reminders, especially in the era of
domination of the homo politicus and homo economicus who often
regard values as relative, when the driving force behind the human
behaviour is the ideology of ‘the lesser evil’, and the end justifies
the means.
Despite the fact that the message refers to the essential cultural
motifs and symbols, we will not see any dramatic poses and
gestures there. Adam and Eve expelled from the Paradise look
like beautiful modern people, similarly to Bathsheba, who – let the
author pardon me for saying that – can be associated with today’s
iconographic sensuality patterns present, for example in advertising
(regardless of the fact that in the author’s intention the classical
figure of David’s wife – a quote from the 19th century painting –
contrasted with a non-classical black geometric form is to refer to
the opposition of good and evil). The man who in a symbolic way
rebuilds the relationship with God, broken by Adam, and converts
to faith, is a 20th-century astronaut. The face of the repentant or
unrepentant hero of the story is a portrait of the contemporary man.
Szymon Ryczek deliberately relates to the sacred in an indirect,
nonliteral way, being aware of the fact that it is hardly representational
and almost impossible to comprehend. The situations featured
in his graphic works are not antique-like. The titles of works and
the author’s comments are the only elements which indicate the
relation to the Bible.
There is no excess of information in the works. Like in a synthetic
message, the symbolic background contrasts with the main imagery
motif. In addition to figurative elements, there are abstract, more or
less regular shapes often associated with particular symbolism.
Szymon Ryczek uses a variety of allusive means of expression,
treating them equally with realistic images. The juxtaposition of the
plaster print and woodcut technique, planes marked by longitudinal
hatching or dots, representational and abstract, black and white;
all these are the characteristic features of the language worked out
by the artist. The character, density and power of lines and planes,
contrasts of light and shade contribute to the emotional message
translated into artistic values. These, in turn, are important not only
as formal elements, but they have their own specific meanings (like
the symbolic nature of colours), relating to the concepts spread
between good and evil, sacred and profane.
The works are characterized by strong diversified graphic ‘texture’.
The elements are dynamic, they vibrate, pulsate; lines, like beams
of light, penetrate the space. These actions are not motivated
by the will to show technical skills, though they are a visible
manifestation of craftsmanship, but they come from a desire to
balance the powerful main imagery theme. The background, like
blue and golden planes of medieval paintings, expresses eternity.
It is a mystery full of humbleness, the area of spirituality. The artist
is trying to express what is graphically inexpressible.
In the monastery church of the Norbertines in Strzelno there are
unique Romanesque columns which in a figurative, allegorical
form present contrasting values: virtues and vices. The symbolic
psychomachy, which is a struggle for the soul of the hero, also takes
place in Szymon Ryczek’s graphic works. He takes up the subject
of man and his daily struggle with the forces of evil; he refers to
archetypes, uses parables in which the main roles are played by
personifications of values and ideas. Szymon Ryczek’s art draws
attention to the suspension of the man (the contemporary man too)
between two extreme attitudes: creation and destruction, finding
God and his annihilation, faith and blasphemy, holiness and sin.
The author stresses that they do not belong to the true nature of
man; they derive from the weakness which is a consequence of
the original sin.
In art manifesting a specific attitude does not come down only to
the problem of the message conveyed by a work of art, but also to
the method of its expression. Turning towards the noble (appropriate
to express sublime values), traditional, labour-consuming graphic
techniques, overcoming their limitations, making large-scale works that
can enhance a sense of majesty involved in the values of the sacred,
becomes a kind of mission filled with dedication and tedious work,
which gives it the character of ‘meditation’, understood as a reflection
on a given fragment of the Bible during the execution of a graphic work.
The artist performs his work like a monk ‘writing’ an icon, which makes
it stand out from other ordinary images on religious themes.
Dariusz Le¶nikowski
Transl. Elżbieta Rodzeń-Le¶nikowska
KATALOG
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