Deluge

Potop by Roman Opałka is one of the works from a series of nine acid engravings from the Opisanie świata series (1968–1970). At the centre of Potop is a cluster of Manhattan skyscrapers that are appropriated, absorbed by the gradually thickening mass of characters around it. Dr. Bożena Kowalska, an art historian, described the series, saying that behind a relatively simple, universally understood symbolism – depicting the threat of overpopulation, urbanisation and technology, which will annihilate our natural environment, there is a more general and motif that is harder to define. Opałka followed Eastern philosophy – pantheistic towards nature and human beings as its integral part. He adhered to the Zen school according to which destruction is necessary so that rebirth can take place, and that individual human beings are like grains of dust in the face of the cycles of nature and the infinite. In the Oisanie świata series, Opałka found a way to express the problems of both philosophical and formal nature that bothered him, he found a code of signs - a universal language to convey universal content. Works from this series were appreciated and awarded during the 7th International Graphics Biennial in Krakow (1969), the 7th World Graphics Biennial in Tokyo, as well as the 2nd Graphics Biennial in Bratford (1970).To date, Roman Opałka remains one of the most well-known conceptual artists in the world. He worked with graphics, painting, sculpture, medals, book illustration, and poster design until he discovered numerical images – the idea he would later refer to as his OPAŁKA 1965/1-∞ programme. The first work in this series is a list of consecutive numbers in white paint on a black background. After that, the background was grey and lightened by one percent with each new canvas. While painting, the artist recorded his voice while reading the subsequent number, and made a photographic self-portrait after each day of work. From 1972 until the artist’s death in 2011, this programme was the only focus of his work.

Marlena Chybowska-Butler