Art: Ironic duality

Warsaw's Galeria Le Guern is hosting "Scattered Paintings" (Obrazy rozproszone), a show of paintings by Polish artist Jarosław Modzelewski. Modzelewski is a painter best known for a style that blends familiar rural landscapes with unexpected elements and rare hues of color that carry his work out of the realm of reality and to the outer limits of surrealism.

The theme of the exhibit is the painter's reference to the immediate world around him. The paintings also contain a certain irony connected with the necessary artifice of translating beloved objects and landscapes from real life to the canvas.

"In each of his works, whether it's a landscape or a portrait, there is an underlying duality and irony that defines Modzelewski's style," said Bożena Czubak, the show's curator. In Modzelewski's paintings, the bright light of stars is mirrored in the glaring beam of lamps, the blue of the night sky is brighter than anything down on earth.

"In Scattered Paintings, Jarosław Modzelewski continues his work as a painter, finding reasons to paint, to create works of art based on the world around him, everything from the object of lengthy observation to a mere glance," said Czubak. "Every one of the paintings in the show carries its own painterly context with regard to the way in which they are painted, the way in which those objects are seen by the painter's eye are transferred to the canvas," she added.

Czubak went on to describe how the painter's work is deeply rooted in continuity and consequence, but is also characterized by a constant expansion.

Scattered Paintings will run at Galeria Le Guern, ul. Widok 8, until March 9. Fore more information, log on to www.leguern.pl