Dimensions: support: 241 x 299 mm
Copyright: © Wilhelm Sasnal, courtesy Sadie Coles HQ | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Curator: Wilhelm Sasnal's "Untitled (a)" presents us with a stark, almost desolate scene in oil on canvas. I find the composition quite unsettling. Editor: The near-monochromatic palette emphasizes the flatness of the plane. The brushstrokes are visible, suggesting a rapid application of paint, and the subdued tones really set a somber mood. Curator: Absolutely. Consider the social context: Sasnal’s work often grapples with the weight of history in post-communist Poland, so this could reference collective memory. The figures seem isolated, perhaps alluding to alienation in contemporary society. Editor: Or, stripped of context, the repetition of shapes creates a formal rhythm. The contrasting values—the black figures against the grey ground—establish a visual tension. Curator: A tension that speaks to the human condition, perhaps. It’s a fascinating piece that allows for multiple interpretations. Editor: Indeed. It leaves you pondering form and content long after you’ve moved on.
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Sasnal is a contemporary Polish artist who has gained international recognition for his depictions of day-to-day life in a society in transition to a market-based economy. He has worked in different media including drawing, film and photography but he is best known as a painter. He is highly prolific, having produced several hundred paintings in a diverse range of styles in the first five years of the twenty-first century. His early work was often directly representational with images sourced from photographs and consumer products. Many of these paintings incorporated text: dates, price tags and other units of measurement. This work has been read as a contemporary updating and as a subversion of a Pop Art sensibility, but from an Eastern European perspective.
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