BWA Contemporary Art Gallery in Katowice

Look and Take It in

‘(…) This kind of exhibition tends to encourage long and short-term forecasts about the vitality of this artistic discipline and its untapped reserve for development. Looking at the achievements of this year's participants, we can be reasonably optimistic. Things do seem to be moving forward, progress has a vectorial thrust because it is impossible to assume another logic of the strategy and refer back to earlier steps in the evolution. Regression, although unavoidable at times, is only peripheral to the current artistic production. The prevailing majority of artists share the present-day concern to make messages visually appealing, which can easily be achieved using the currently available instruments. However, it does not entail the exclusion of classical motifs or basic, simple formulas — because they are able to carry contemporary themes, if only ingeniously articulated. It is in the conceptual domain that posters can exhibit its potency as a form, and testify to the artists' intellectual discipline. The less is more principle persists indefinitely, and with great success, which sparks hope and shows that the guidelines of the genre are well understood and followed, although it is done in quite an orthodox manner. Then, there is the variety of authors coming from different generations, which creates the impression of temperaments clashing. The young generation wants to get to grips with reality in its own style, with some outrageous streaks. The older one, despite their old customs, does not fall short of the expectations and standards of visual communications, as they adapt to contemporary requirements.(…)’

Excerpt from the foreword to the catalogue — Mariusz Knorowski

• List
• Poster
• Organizers