Art Review by Cosimo Stefani
The artistic world of Jacek Rudnicki has always gravitated toward the maelstrom of those countless fragments of existence where one is caught by a momentary but instantaneous loss of reason, in the vortex of change, in that centripetal force that pulls you toward the center while the fragmented experience is scattered at the periphery of life. This artist's interests appear to focus on the limits of experience; on the thresholds that lead beyond the imposed artistic codes; on those instances that we don't know how to behave; on that infinitesimal fraction of time in which images precede language; on the creation of the spoken word. Art, according to Jacek, circumvent all these moments, and these moments are simultaneously uncanny and instilling.
The artwork produced by this artist reflects his philosophy, his dialectical discourse between the profane and the divine, the weird and the familiar, the supernatural and the mundane. The dialogue between the artist and the viewer is a two-way conversation, a Socratic discourse, where the ultimate result is a deeper understanding of the painting (the text), the viewer (the decoder of the text), and the artist (the author).
Titles, according to this artist, are generally misleading; for the viewer by reading the painting brings into play his/her experiences and his/her mental images. And since mental images precede the process of language, then every viewer creates his or her title for the text. It appears that Jacek's intent is to elicit an interpretation from the viewer; and if an interpretation is offered, then the work is successful for it has fulfilled its purpose, namely: in bringing the viewer to a pause. It is obvious that in this state of affairs no single interpretation is complete. The painting can be reconstructed according to the mental images produced by the emotions that create them.
And so textural qualities and the resolution of the painting are two fundamental characteristics that dominate this artist's work. The creation of the painting (or the texture and composition of the canvas), then really depends on the emotions transferred to the canvas in the form of materialized mental images. It is important to understand that according to this artist the emotional aspect is not of a romantic nature -- a rapturous, ecstatic moment of the senses--; the emotional aspect of Rudnicki's paintings is the first step in creating a personalized decoding device (a language) that introduces the viewer to talk about and to get to a deeper level of understanding. But it is an inexpressible understanding, an individualized sense of comprehension attuned to the emotions of the individual observer. "It is my goal to charge my paintings with emotions", affirms Jacek with an assured tone , "to breathe life into them, so that the viewer can recognize that which defies words." Art, in Jacek's view, has to instill in the viewer a sense of awe, of bewilderment in realizing that a painting can attune one's innermost emotions to the lyrical notes of one's innermost feelings.
The artwork produced by this artist reflects his philosophy, his dialectical discourse between the profane and the divine, the weird and the familiar, the supernatural and the mundane. The dialogue between the artist and the viewer is a two-way conversation, a Socratic discourse, where the ultimate result is a deeper understanding of the painting (the text), the viewer (the decoder of the text), and the artist (the author).
Titles, according to this artist, are generally misleading; for the viewer by reading the painting brings into play his/her experiences and his/her mental images. And since mental images precede the process of language, then every viewer creates his or her title for the text. It appears that Jacek's intent is to elicit an interpretation from the viewer; and if an interpretation is offered, then the work is successful for it has fulfilled its purpose, namely: in bringing the viewer to a pause. It is obvious that in this state of affairs no single interpretation is complete. The painting can be reconstructed according to the mental images produced by the emotions that create them.
And so textural qualities and the resolution of the painting are two fundamental characteristics that dominate this artist's work. The creation of the painting (or the texture and composition of the canvas), then really depends on the emotions transferred to the canvas in the form of materialized mental images. It is important to understand that according to this artist the emotional aspect is not of a romantic nature -- a rapturous, ecstatic moment of the senses--; the emotional aspect of Rudnicki's paintings is the first step in creating a personalized decoding device (a language) that introduces the viewer to talk about and to get to a deeper level of understanding. But it is an inexpressible understanding, an individualized sense of comprehension attuned to the emotions of the individual observer. "It is my goal to charge my paintings with emotions", affirms Jacek with an assured tone , "to breathe life into them, so that the viewer can recognize that which defies words." Art, in Jacek's view, has to instill in the viewer a sense of awe, of bewilderment in realizing that a painting can attune one's innermost emotions to the lyrical notes of one's innermost feelings.
