Stańczyk

Wojciech Zamiara, using the Stańczyk painting by Jan Matejko, creates a photographic photo-montage, where the place of a worried jester is taken by a man in a negligee. As in the first case, the character on the picture represents the author himself. This photograph is basically a black-and-white reproduction of the painting, and the only alteration is the change of the central figure. In the case of Zamiara, for whom irony and joking are the important factors of creativity, showing an effigy of Stańczyk, who is famous for his quick wit and great care for his homeland, is an expression of the rather perverse nature of this work. Particularly in the context of Matejko’s historiosophy, overfilled with concerns about the fate of the homeland.
Matejko’s Stańczyk is a ground-breaking work – the artistic credo of the already formed painter, where the historiosophical thought of the artist, who considers history as the continuity of historical phenomena and their mutual interactions reveals itself for the first time. This symbol of wisdom and conscience of the nation is transformed by Zamiara. Stańczyk on the photograph, although remains pensive, due to his exhibitionism gives this work a rather quite different overtone. Stańczyk is not reflecting on the future of the country, but rather symbolizes the irony and the mockery of national myths firmly rooted in the minds of Poles. Stańczyk by Zamiara seems to be the phantom, perverse image of the modern Stańczyk. [P. Lisowski]