Apollo

Apollo by Aleksandra Łukaszewicz (1978- ), a doctor of humanities, curator and artist specialising in philosophical aesthetics, art and cultural theory, is one of six large-format photographic collages in the series Question about the Face of Man (2004). The artist comments on the work: "I was thinking about the fact that not only women but also men are inscribed in certain stereotypical roles and forms that have their roots in the origins of European civilisation. In this sense, it is a critical work, feminist but sympathetic to men. Apollo of Belvedere, Hermes, David, Discobolus, Laocoon, Saint Sebastian: these are the various forms in which the masculine ideal has been inscribed over the centuries. But do these models correspond to modern men? Who are they under the mask of the 'ideal form'?” The ancient Greek male ideal is a combination of spiritual and physical perfection. It is based on the philosophy of Plato and his ethical and aesthetic canon, whose approach is the triad of goodness, beauty and truth. Presenting a photograph of a modern man's body posed as a statue of a Greek god with a head mask covering his face forces an association with today's dynamic world of social media and the unlimited possibilities of self-creation. It is now easy for anyone to create their own image, regardless of who they really are and whether it makes them better or happier. The concept of mimesis, dominant in ancient art, i.e. the creation of a perfect illusion of reality, showing the world as it should be and not necessarily as it is, was understood in Platonic philosophy as the creation of a representation of a model, an ideal image of the real world. In this context, implied by ancient references and confronted with the present, Łukaszewicz's series Question about the Face of Man is an intellectual challenge, prompting us to revise our own attitudes and to critically filter the media information conveyed to us. Marlena Chybowska-Butler