This graphic parable is a landscape of memory, the history of mankind which is to be expressed by means of signs of existence. Despite everything Man is a hero or rather an anti-hero - as his condition is fragile and his fate full of permanent amazement by the infinity of time and space. In these graphics his visual representation is merely a simple sketch, a contour drawing which is autonomic as far as a colour patch is concerned. The form which is taken by the image of Man confirms that he himself is simultaneously a pretext, a motif resulting in a more profound reflection. He exists beyond the anecdote, beyond the situation and does not imply any associations. In the visual layer he functions like in a morality play, beyond time, beyond space, beyond the social, historical and geographical context. He becomes Everyman, a repetitive motif, like other matrixes used many times in subsequent graphics.

The record of human existence is only perceptible in fragments, we can observe it like shots from a documentary, like the remains of Pompeii frescoes, like quotations cut out from a tale, embroidered on the Bayeux Tapestry or like the remnants of an ancient frieze, seen out of the context.

These relicts, suddenly brought to the surface from under the plaster, might tell quite a number of stories. However they are covered with the dust of print and the layers of ochre in various shades, pale colours of faded prosperity. Burnt sienna, yellows, greys. Majestic tranquillity, confusion and anxiety.

The infinity of phenomena which Man faces is diminished only when it is set in the context of human efforts and their material traces, silent witnesses of history - relatively objective sphere of time and space. Yet its universal abstract essence is still inaccessible.

Marta Tomczyk deals with the archaeology of time and space in her pure and harmonious works. Graphics are free of any excess, in spite of the fact that the artist utilises colour, value and texture means of expression, those apparent and the actual ones, originating from the traces of printing matrixes. The co-ordinate axes included in the picture control the division of the surface, become a reference point to feel the suggested depth. The carefully drawn geometrical construction stays in the significant contrast with the spontaneous 'painting' act. Graphics made in the technique of etching and aquatint, due to their softness and transience, make an impression of monotypes, works made in the technique of sugar aquatint or vernis mou.

Abraded and blurred shades of time which has passed, whitenings intensifying the contrast build the unique aura of experiencing a message from the past. The size of the works causes that the graphics, gentle in their visual expression, seem to be monumental, emanate the awe of eternity.

We realise, however, that the voice sent from the graphic message is at the same time the voice expressing 'the present', the voice of a human being who, using the language of art, asks about the limits of human knowledge, about the sense of human efforts and about the role of art in building bridges between the elements of tradition and the manifestations of our contemporary time.

Dariusz Leśnikowski