Może morze XXIV | Perhaps the Sea XXIV

The painting by Piotr C. Kowalski (1951-) and Witold Lubiniecki (1940-2012) was created as part of the series A może morze (Perhaps the Sea - a play on words in Polish), which the artists created during an open-air workshop in Ustka in 2008. The works created in this series were linked by a simple but surprising concept - each painting was divided into two equal parts. The two parts were developed independently by the artists in their own distinctive styles. The result is a hybrid of paintings with the sea and its possible representations in art as the leading motif. The combination of Lubiniecki's realistic imagery with Kowalski's post-conceptual approach resulted in the work being structured in an eccentric, unusual manner. The left-hand side of the canvas, devised by Lubiniecki, is a realistic depiction of a rough sea, painted with workshop precision and framed in a classic wooden frame. The part on the right by Kowalski is a painting prepared without paint, the surface of which has been covered with an even, thin layer of sand from the beach at Ustka. The sea as a subject brought together two artists with different working methods - Lubiniecki, who practises atmospheric, traditional marine painting with a preference for colour and luministic effects, and Kowalski, who is fascinated by outdoor activities, the use of natural materials and performative collaboration with nature, rather than creating its conventional artistic representations. Magdalena Lewoc