Quite some time passed since the first exhibition of Marzanna Morozewicz in Galeria Bia\u0142a in\u00a0Lublin in 1996 and many changes have also appeared in her creation. Generally speaking, her first paintings were abstract and included geometrical forms connected with a painter\u2019s gesture. They had some traits, say, of contemplation or meditational value, though they were not \u201csharp\u201d and did not reveal the point of those early paintings\u2019 cycles. From my perspective, the paining seemed to result from the process of academic studies, which does not, of course, undermine its quality, but only breaking the path introduced \u201cthe thing\u201d which now defines the art of Marzanna Morozewicz.<\/p>\n
The time, when she started to create the body prints as Torsy <\/i>(torsos), about 2003, or the paintings and embroidered objects, can be read as the moment of discovering her own personal visual language. Anyhow, those facts mark some crucial change in the artist\u2019s painting which thereon convey a completely different message. To me, the most important moment was the appearance of a pink crown of thorns painted at a grey, not primed canvas. The fact that it is pink and was painted by a woman places this time of her work among feminist artists. Although Morozewicz runs from it, for me the awareness of the fact strengthens the meaning of this work. The message of R\u00f3\u017cowa Korona Cierniowa <\/i>(Pink Crown of Thorns) concerns not only itself but the teachings of the Church and its hierarchic structures, where there are basically no women and the meaning and visualization of faith is presented only in the form of\u00a0male iconography. Therefore R\u00f3\u017cowa Korona Cierniowa <\/i>poses a question of female position in faith, culture and generally civilisation. It turns out that females also take part in its development and are no less important. Moreover, they can create such paintings as the male world might have never thought of!<\/p>\n
The next view of Morozewicz\u2019s art, which shaped in the meantime, are different kinds of\u00a0embroidered pictures and works including material objects, connected to her personal or family areas. Again, it turns out that the most personal which transforms into forms of artistic expression does not easily and obviously become a piece of art. It seems one must go through and understand a lot to complete such a gesture consciously. It is also a sign of returning to\u00a0one\u2019s identity and a final closure in terms of school and its restrictions towards art, e.g. that one should paint the paintings, mainly oil, to be an artist! A striking example is story of a jewish soldier told by Morozewicz: We were tidying dad\u2019s things, the artist says. There was \u201cpelisa\u201d, a\u00a0kind of a coat of pre-war tailoring, lined with fur and with otters\u2019 collar. Terribly archaic item, but my father used to always wear it, for as long as I can remember. <\/i>This fur coat came from Bialystok\u2019s ghetto and the artist\u2019s grandmother got it in return for food. I have decided that such a thing could not be thrown away just like that. I ripped the collar and put it into a picture. The fur was also covered with a tulle veil. You need to raise it to see the otter. <\/i>Micha\u0142 Jachu\u0142a in\u00a0the leaflet to exhibition Widok zapo\u017cyczony <\/i>(Borrowed View) in Galeria Bia\u0142a in 2011 describes the works of this cycle as a collection of works using the true family \u201ctreasures\u201d in the most poetic way. The items borrowed from the history of private life, more precisely childhood, become symbols reminding artist\u2019s near relatives. Everyday objects, with the meaning changed by the author, are treated with solemnity as relics and talismans.<\/i><\/p>\n
The works and cycles named here function naturally until this day. Some kind of an open gate is left in her creativeness as some kind of necessity or even unavoidance! Again I will use a\u00a0quote of Micha\u0142 Jachu\u0142a, who describes the paintings of Morozewicz\u2019s above mentioned exhibition most accurately, characterizing all her creation connected to painting plots: The collected works, (\u2026) express first of all a deep insight and contemplation of passing, transience of human life and spiritual issues, which are essential to humanity. The cycle of Widok zapo\u017cyczony made with the use of such different media as painting, installation, artistic object and tissue can be more precisely defined as artist\u2019s pictures of down-to-earth and eternal issues. <\/i>Let us recall here another creation of this artist, which directly links with the history of art and uses it in a creative way by \u201cborrowing\u201d the motive to create an artifact of primary art at the same time creating a\u00a0message of a totally different meaning!<\/p>\n
The black painting, referring to Czarny kwadrat na bia\u0142ym tle <\/i>(A black square on a white back\u001fground) by Kazimierz Malewicz, is a rather small, 30×30 cm, Widok zapo\u017cyczony <\/i>(Borrowed view). In reality it is an embroidery made directly at under painting. Once again let me evoke Jachu\u0142a\u2019s text: In the version of Morozewicz we yet have a chance to see a \u201cmultiplied\u201d black square, or, more precisely, an accumulation of teens of for hours and hours embroidered squares. The squares pilling up one upon the other, growing bigger in the process of building the composition, where the borders are restricted only by the scale of the white canvas and the endurance of the cloth. The final effect is an organic mass, self \u2013 referential, ideal \u201cperformative\u201d mass being a record of time it was made in. <\/i>This description is extraordinarily accurate and gives this work an exceptional meaning! For me, it is again another thing, just as R\u00f3\u017cowa Korona Cierniowa<\/i>. It is also \u2013 in my opinion \u2013 a way of communication where the artist contests for a\u00a0\u201cnormal\u201d treatment of WOMEN in art. Sewing or embroidering are culturally connected with so called \u201cwomen\u2019s work\u201d, and art, such as war \u2013 men\u2019s work and values, therefore a form of\u00a0domination! Embro\u001fidering of Czarny kwadrat na bia\u0142ym tle <\/i>this way certifies an attempt to\u00a0break the stereotypes and standards which were decided by by men.<\/p>\n
The distance to reality and a sense of humour included in the objects such as Tajemniczki <\/i>(Small Secrets) or Kolorowe Waginki oraz inne cz\u0119\u015bci cia\u0142a <\/i>(Colourfull Small Vaginas and other body parts) will let Marzanna Morozewicz live young until a very old age, just as Louise Bourgeois.<\/p>\n
Jan Gryka<\/p>\n
Jan Gryka, habilitated doctor of art, professor at Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin, artist in visual art, head of Zak\u0142ad Intermedi\u00f3w i\u00a0Rysunku at Faculty of Arts at UMCS, co-creator and co-runner of Galeria Bia\u0142a in Lublin.<\/p>\n
HERE AND NOW, Sle\u0144dzi\u0144ski Gallery, Bialystok 2017<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jan Gryka, HERE AND NOW. Quite some time passed since the first exhibition of Marzanna Morozewicz in Galeria Bia\u0142a in\u00a0Lublin in 1996 and many changes have also appeared in her creation. Generally speaking, her first paintings were abstract and included geometrical forms connected with a painter\u2019s gesture. They had some traits, say, of contemplation or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mamo.art.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mamo.art.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mamo.art.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mamo.art.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mamo.art.pl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=900"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/mamo.art.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":936,"href":"http:\/\/mamo.art.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900\/revisions\/936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mamo.art.pl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mamo.art.pl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mamo.art.pl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}