European contemporary art climate: Warsaw Gallery Weekend '21
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Gallery Weekends and similar art fairs grant a certain status to cities, as one of the goals of such events is to showcase the latest art trends in the region. Warsaw Gallery Weekend is the largest recurring art fair in Poland. This year it was held for the 11th consecutive year and was once again a success.
Interestingly, a number of galleries did not make the cut due to the organizers’ careful esthetic selection: in 2019, the aforementioned galleries even announced an alternative gallery weekend event to challenge WGW, but the initiative was not continued in 2021. This speaks that while these fairs have a significant commercial aspect, they are also a great opportunity to make a statement, set a trend, and establish yourself, whether you are an artist, a gallery, or a collector.
If you are or have once been a novice collector, you will know that there is no other better to develop a taste for art than to view it in abundance. Art fairs, as such, are an exceptional opportunity for collectors to shape and form their art palette. Let us take a look at some of the personal highlights by Art Advance at WGW 2021:
- Gallery: LETO
Artists exhibited: Maurycy Gomulicki & Xawery Wolski
Diamonds, Fur Coat, Champagne
This exhibition has attracted much attention in the press and among the visitors. Maurycy and Xawery seem to have found inspiration in sunny and vibrant Mexico, where the artists first met 20 years ago. The exhibition explores the notion of sexuality, a subject that will likely never run out of fuel.
Maurycy shares their thoughts:
We’re greedy for beauty, enraptured with grace — joined together in a sort of basilisk brotherhood. And so, there are many gems in this show, gold chains, strings of pearls. Each work is a single frame of a bigger story, a story of a universal dream in which plenty and abundance are woven into pleasures of the flesh and ecstasy.
Maurycy Gomulicki
Princess (ed. 1/5 + 2AP), 2021
photography: Fujicolor Pearl paper, sandwich dibond, plexi
90 x 130 cm
2. Gallery: BWA Warszawa
Jadwiga Sawicka
Royal Bodies
Jadwiga Sawicka is a recognized artist in the Polish art scene. She uses satire to emphasize absurd misinformation and representations in the media, especially when it comes to women and women’s bodies. Jadwiga Sawicka explains that she is looking for a way to comment on emotions. Such forms for her are often painted or photographed pieces of clothing, as well as the silhouettes of the human body. In ‘Royal Bodies’ Sawicka also explores the notion of the human comfort zone:
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Kotryna Tribusinaite, 2021
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