FX-Eye

Created in a technique devised by the author and digitally printed, the work presents a geometrical and symmetrical composition – black, charcoal-grey, white, and red – based on the motif of rhythmically arranged horizontal and diagonal lines. The main role is played by the illusory nature of space and movement created by the visual forms appearing in the work. The rectangular frame is surrounded by margins on four sides. Along the left and right sides, there are identical, vertical stripes filled with thick, horizontal, black-charcoal-grey-and-white lines. The upper and lower sides are also identical, diagonal, thick, white-red lines, falling at the bottom and rising at the top. Unlike the lines along the left and right sides, these are much narrower mirror reflections. The white-red lines resemble the warning tapes used for industrial health and safety in order to protect road works from outsiders’ interference. The “frame” prepared thereby is filled with a charcoal-grey background, horizontally traversed by white stripes, deformed in such a way as to create an optical illusion of a convexity in the centre. As the title of the work suggests, the central oval resembles an eye. Another interesting symbolic motif are the mysterious “road tapes” which, like eyelids, secure and protect the eyeball. Thus, despite the obvious geometrical abstraction of the form, we have inspirations coming from natural forms – the point of departure for the artist’s formal play and technical virtuosity. What is most suggestive in this work is the illusion of movement and space, achieved by the rhythmical play of stripes and chiaroscuro. The illusory motif draws our sight towards some interior, suggesting the existence of some backstage, invisible plane. Such a tape demarcates spaces that passers-by cannot enter. Our sight, on the other hand, wants to travel inside, behind the apparent symmetry and calmness of the composition, while the white-red margins introduce anxiety and signal some hidden danger. [M. Krzyżanowska]