part II of doctoral series
From the search of photographs of newborns published in newspapers, their conversion to graphics – rasterization and manipulation of the achieved results – applying cracks to the structure, the subsequent processing them into a cut-out foil template using a plotter, transferring templates onto a canvas – six with the dimensions of 100x100cm and four with the dimensions of 50x50 cm, covering the canvas with acrylic paint and applying the template. The concept assumed a set of presented works as a whole, a serial repetition of a newborn portrait with reference to the multiplication in mass culture and standardization, presenting the individual as a commodity.
The painting series Synthesis of everyday life is an artistic attempt to capture a fragment of contemporary society. Crystallised into a synthetic, black and white, serial form, it presents my own reflections on everyday routine, unification of being, standardization and the place of man as an individual in today's society. It installs them in the context of modern philosophy treating continuous repetitions as a way of functioning of the world.
I selected a fragment of daily life – the paintings are inspired by newspaper portraits of newborns. I was inspired by them by browsing through the newspaper, where the square portraits of children placed on a spread in equal columns and rows featured the head of the newborn, along with their names below photos and a tagline saying son or daughter of Mr. and Mrs. N.That was reminiscent of a shopping mall catalogue, inviting the recipients to choose the most the cutest child in the offer. The simultaneous juxtaposition and standardization of children – innocent and unaffected with neither good nor bad intentions seemed to me as a metaphor of modern times – a child as a creature, carrying the potential of uniqueness and presenting it to the world in the form of a production line, like another mass production product – a catalogued item in a newspaper intended for a mass audience. The paradox of contemporary culture becomes evident – an extremely individualistic and narcissistic attitude promoted and used by mass culture to sell goods. Today, artists are trying to influence society by acting and sup porting grassroots cultural movement and referring to social issues. The intentions of influencing the attitudes of the recipients bring along a specific selection of formal means.
