Radek SZLAGA (b. 1979), Oak Bartek 39, 2009

mixed technique, canvas; 170 x 100 cm;
Signed, dated and described on the back: [crown] / PAN / RDK / 2008 / Oak Bartek '39 (in pen).
In 2016, Warsaw's National Gallery of Fine Arts "Zachęta" hosted a presentation of Radek Szlaga's works. Among the exhibited works you can also find a composition with an analogous title "Oak Bartek" dating from 2012. On the occasion of this exhibition, a peculiar dictionary / encyclopedia of the artist's concepts was created, in which one can find peculiar definitions of concepts created by the painter. One of them is the formulation of the concept of visual arts.
"Painting - is, to quote Szlaga: "A language, or more precisely: a dialect, without one binding set of rules. Used to describe things that can't be told in any other language. It's also a dialogue, a lesson in humility and patience. Here you can do anything, but nothing by force." Also of interest are the "vitalistic" fantasies that painting evokes in viewers. The brushstroke on the canvas inherent in this medium, suggesting the "closeness" of the artist/artist and the work, provokes animistic interpretations of paintings and the attribution of almost
human (including causality). As an example of playing with this fantasy, Isabelle Graw in The Love of Painting. A Genealogy of a Success Medium (Sternberg Press, 2018) cites Sigmar Polke's painting. Higher beings commanded: paint the top corner black! (Höhere Wesen befahlen: rechte obere Ecke schwarz malen!, 1969)." - Press materials for the exhibition: Radek Szlaga, "Places I had no intention of visiting," Warsaw, Zachęta, 2016.