Mały intymny świat (plaża) | A small intimate world (the beach)

Wiesław Szamborski (1941-) graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw in 1966 with distinction in the studio of prof. Michał Bylina (1904-1982). The 1960s in Polish art was a time when socialist realism was being replaced by postmodern ideas such as conceptualism, pop art or neo-figuration, a category to which Szamborski is often ascribed. However, the artist distanced himself from these trends, never succumbing to the pressures of the time or experimenting with the means of expression. He remained faithful to easel painting and used it to depict the world around him and everyday life. He did not comment on the reality of communist Poland, but he did not remain passive in the face of the abuses and absurdities of "real socialism". Since 1969, he has been creating three-dimensional works that engage the viewer and stimulate his perception through unusual configurations and structural solutions. One of these was Autoportret, in which Szamborski placed mirrors at right angles to either side of the painting. Similarly, Small World (Beach) and Small Intimate World (Beach), both in the collection of the National Museum in Szczecin, are spatial, briefcase-like paintings, each consisting of two small canvases connected by hinges. Created during an open-air workshop in Świnoujście, these works opened up the theme of beachgoers, which Szamborski explored particularly often in the 1980s. Since the 1970s, animals, flowers and landscapes have increasingly become the protagonists of his works. They all share the melancholy mood that pervades most of the artist's work. His style of painting is deliberately anti-aesthetic, coarse, sometimes even brutal in the combination of colours and deformation of shapes, and contains a heavy load of reflection, ambiguity and subtext far beyond the framework of the tangible images outlined on the canvas. Marlena Chybowska-Butler