Repetition

The point of departure for Mikołaj Małek's activities is fascination with visual representations of scientific theories and models, which the author enriches with elements from the borderline of dream and reality. The presented series is deprived of a narrative structure and the themes of the separate compositions were drawn from coursebooks, newspapers, films and the surrounding reality. Małek methodically interferes in the original, manipulates form, juxtaposes successive variants and hints the possibility of further transformations, which ultimately leads to undermining the originality of a work of art. By emphasising the very creative process the artist alludes to the paradigms of conceptual art. Images of reality, like memories, are susceptible to repetition and deformation. Małek shows that this mechanism is responsible for cultural continuity. Thus the artist's life experience unites with the collective memory of his generation shaped by the analogue aesthetics of film and press.

Mikołaj Małek (b. 1983) pursues painting, creates installations and videos. Graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow.