Another Way of Seeing
an interview with Zbigniew Rogalski before the Stupor (September 11) exhibition by Bogna Błażewicz
Bogna Błażewicz: Potential visitors to your show will definitely be intrigued by its title. Stupor is amazement, stupefaction. I believe, however, that we need some hints as to what it specifically means in the context of this exhibition.
Zbigniew Rogalski: Issues related to perception, disturbances of vision and the characteristics of visual perception are the core of my artistic explorations. The apparent obstacles to a clear reception of reality, the subjectivity of sensory responses and the most diverse “other” ways of seeing are of particular interest to me and constitute a source of inspiration. After many years of painterly analysis of various specificities of perception, the time has come for stupor…
Stupor is an effect that becomes a kind of cognitive oxymoron. For example, I direct my gaze to a tree branch. I stare at it absent-mindedly, begin thinking about something else, detach myself from it. After a while, the vision of the branch fades away; the eyes continue to focus only mechanically, while the projection in the mind dies away. The situation is a contradiction: I see and do not see at the same time. This is an intriguing moment, as if there is an inherent conflict in the act of looking itself. Naturally, this does not apply to visual phenomena alone as the process takes place on a psychological level, too.
BB: Following the attack on the World Trade Center, whose anniversary coincides with the launch of the exhibition, our perception of the world changed. We have lost not only our sense of security, but also our certainty regarding the reality we know and what it is that we are looking at.
ZR: Of course, a great deal has changed; there are volumes of texts and analyses on how this event transformed the world. What interests me is what actually changed… Geopolitics, relations with the Arab world, airport security checks, and a sense of threat. It was a great black swan; then came further ones, whose shadow continues to loom large above us.
The impact and the resulting shock call for adaptation to new circumstances; a classic evolutionary trait of Sapiens. Today, the Twin Towers are history, something we have grown accustomed to.
When I realised that the exhibition would open on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the attack, I thought that I would like to refer to this fact. However, I had no intention of depicting fire, smoke or rubble; rather, I was concerned with so-called ordinary life. It is as if I were looking at the horizon of the sea and becoming aware that today marks that significant anniversary. Then something begins to happen. The purity of vision is disrupted, as if, on some meta-level, a soundless explosion had occurred. A certain visual effect emerges, depending on the specific nature of the mind.
BB: Your painting Voerman’s Apple Tree refers to the work of the Dutch artist Jan Voerman (1890–1976). Why did this particular work fascinate you so much?
ZR: When I saw this painting, I could not take my eyes off it. It is superbly painted. Additionally, a great deal is taking place at the level of associations; the first fruit, a promise of abundance, like a film still about lost security… The idea behind my interpretation was precisely that I look at this painting for a long time, for so long that the image begins to deteriorate, to give way under the influence of the tired-eye effect.
BB: The exhibition gathers not only your paintings. What was the rationale behind your choice of other media, such as photographs and objects?
ZR: I would like to point out that we made the decision together (laughter). I believe it was important to select the works in relation to the subject matter. This triad of media allows for different perspectives in the visual description of the processes taking place in the act of looking. In fact, there is also a fourth medium, i.e. the graphic work Map of the World, an older piece that we considered particularly apt.
The properties of individual techniques open up possibilities of communication and expression. The effect of “seeing through a tear” in painting would not be as evocative as in the case of embroidery. A cascade of tangled threads on black wool is an extraordinarily vivid equivalent of a wet eye perceiving the light of film closing credits…
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