The infinite changes of the visible world which we observe in Krzysztof Wieczorek's works accompany the permanent awareness of profound mysteries of existence originating from contemplation of nature forces.

The artist forms his visual landscapes out of the air and the ground. Precipices, ruins of steep rocks, thicket of rapacious plants, the sky whirling above - the elements which the artist has been using for years. Yet at every new stage of creation the components of the poetic world of his imagination form new, more and more fascinating configurations, confirming complexity and infiniteness of nature. We seem to be concerned with pure pantheism of nature, a mere tribute to its forces and symbols, with the creation that results from the unselfish contemplation of the world and beauty of existence. There is something in this image of the world, however, that explicitly makes us feel anxious. The landscapes, which appear to be real and familiar, are rather closer to fantastic visions. Even the elements of the waste of Auvergne - the piece of the world which can be defined, get the value of an imaginary place. They are remote and unattainable, frequently monumentalised when the horizon is high above, and strange, overwhelming when we look at them from above, from a sophisticated perspective. The landscapes, both going along and penetrating the ground, make an impression of expanding space, distorting relations familiar to our perception. Images composed of repetitive motives, torn - literally and metaphorically - out of other representations, create an indefinite space, intriguing , almost magic.

The landscapes are mostly deserted, as if man did not deserve the right to face the untamed power of nature. The human presence is only manifested in the traces of the disturbed majesty of nature. The paths beaten in the past lead to battered bridges. Relics of architecture, proud, formerly mythical monuments of human power: pyramids, obelisks and towers of mingled languages sound with dead resonance in the enchanted space. The traces of sorrowful failure in 'the fight of nature against culture', nature which uses its roots to violate the substance of civilisation and blows it up with the power of its energy. The artist refers to literary themes, he does not focus on any anecdote. He tries to present the internal essence of objects, the spirit of things and the spirit of the atmosphere around. He creates a symbolic universal portrait of nature simultaneously concentrating on expressing the pure abstract notions such as: admiration, anxiety, horror or power. In spite of the fact that the world comes out of fantasy, it has a value of permanence and in a way it becomes a universal model of the world of elements in general - a kind of a unique ‘heroic landscape’, which, however, does not accompany human achievements, as it used to be in the history of painting, but which is a paean for personified nature and its creative powers.

The motive of a polyhedron, placed in an iconographic landscape, as if borrowed from Melancholy by Dürer, brings back the Renaissance dilemmas concerning the sense of human creative activity and neo-Platonic reflections on the hierarchy of existence and the spirit incorporated in the matter. A return to tradition does not mean here any regress to inertia but a quiet profound affirmation.

The compositions are saturated with romantic mood; that is how the characters from paintings by Friedrich probably saw nature. The feeling of strangeness is mingled with nostalgia, which is followed by the need for coping with the unknown, leading to the inevitable defeat. Towers reaching the skies, bridges, paths and borders become symbols of human fate, a pretty hard wandering and final destination.

It gradually becomes clear that the visions are reflections of the artist’s internal spiritual landscape. The space of the pictures is filled with light. It is the second essential factor of the presented world. (Some of the earlier graphic landscapes remind of drafts in chiaroscuro.)

In the pictures beams of light force their way into the landscape. The atmosphere is just saturated with it. Spaces of shadow torn by radiance make nearly theatrical effects. From behind the surfaces, which divide space in an ingenious way, light drizzles as if from behind screens. Glittering brilliance - illumination becomes the anticipated culminating point, like sudden shines of the rising sun awakening the dawn in the works by Claude Lorraine. Vertical beams of light giving rhythm to the surface have been a constant compositional elements of Krzysztof Wieczorek’s works for a long time. In other works the same beams, as if thrown diagonally in one direction by a stronger blow of the wind, dynamize space (in some compositions close to abstraction sharp wedge-shaped forms function in the same way).

The light-and-shade contrasts become useful in a discourse on contradicting discrepancies; night and day, radiance and darkness complete each other irrevocably - like good and evil, awakening and passing away. In the atmosphere of the lit up landscapes, and most of all in the rhythms which the means of expression are dominated by, the musical character of Krzysztof Wieczorek’s works is revealed. The paintings, often inspired by some instrumental compositions, and even borrowing their titles, sound with contrasts of colours, with phrases of light-and shade tones. Logic of construction of a musical composition seems to have been naturally and intuitively transferred into the area of plastic art permeating the internal tissue of paintings.

Experiments with space and light - especially in the latest painting works - result in effects significant for the compositional structure of paintings. The composition sometimes has a mosaic character. We observe the world like in the overlapping reflections from broken mirrors. Space relations we got used to have been changed or deliberately distorted. A facet-like character of surface composition or layer arrangement of elements also influences the colour and tone distinctions.

In many former graphic and painting compositions colours seem to be dimmed, as if faded. Pale rusty reds are juxtaposed with faded inky tones, sepias share the territory with the shades of tranquillised greens. The process of archaising - frequently secondarily coloured graphics - is accepted when the result is a kind of engraving, with the subject of time passing and the past in the background. Colour, often not realistic, not local, neglects the contours of objects and is spread over bigger surfaces. It is transparent, varied yet limited to the selected range of shades.

Careful choice of colours is also characteristic of the latest works, although there is more freedom here, e.g. in the selection of contrasts: blues and yellows, shades of green and red. Moreover colour as a substance full of brilliance, to a larger extent models objects, not presenting but revealing the magic existence of things.

The artist tries to preserve a homogeneous construction of paintings. Objects are arranged in three-dimensional space, with stylistic unity of surface. The task is not easy, considering the character of the latest experiments. The newest works show the attempts to reach the essence of plastic values determining the particular artistic domains and techniques.

Graphics is the starting point for painting compositions. A mezzotint print, like a groundwork or a skeleton of construction is gradually filled with the plastic content. Fragments of the ground gradually disappear under the layers of acrylic paint, watercolour or gouache, under the surfaces of stuck paper, under the layers of varnish. The artist deals with a new experience: observing cooperation of the particular components of a work in different configurations is satisfying - it astonishes or it confirms the right choice. A new quality is originated. The artist reaches the very essence of visuality, and at the same time he is concerned with the complicated relationships between graphic and painting aspects of a work, which seems to be most important here.

Changes taking place in the situation of graphic art in the 19th century as well as its metamorphosis in the 20th century made the reproductive graphics disappear and artistic graphics revive and be independent. Resigning from the autonomy of this technique and an attempt to manifest its links with painting in such a particular way as Krzysztof Wieczorek does it is an example of a return to the fundamental sources of artistic choices. Starting with graphics, and still pursuing it, the artist moves to the domain of painting.

Dariusz Leśnikowski

Transl. Elżbieta Rodzeń-Leśnikowska