Medium is the message

“During communism it was a game for Polish poster artists to see how much they could sneak by the censors.”
By : William Nichols

   Free expression is a blessing. But for Poland’s poster artists, it’s also a curse.

   “It’s a paradox, really,” said Maria Kurpik, curator of the Wilanów Poster Museum. “During communism, there was a better market for posters. State agencies bought posters for everything, especially for propaganda.”

   Back then, the creative element of posters was not so much in the art itself, Kurpik said, but in the hidden messages within the work.

   To illustrate her point, Kurpik refers to a poster on her office wall that dates back to the communist regime. The poster was commissioned for a ballet, but it is a far cry from what you might expect. Instead of ballerinas in pink tutus, the poster depicts a man whose eyes have been gouged out by the talons of a giant raptor. The man stands as though unaware of his blindness while the collar on his shirt is composed of two bold lines of white and red: the Polish flag.

   “During communism it was a game for Polish poster artists to see how much they could sneak by the censors,” she said.

   Today, however, that game has changed. Many poster artists now find themselves working for an even more menacing censor: advertising agents.

   “It used to be that poster artists were more free to experiment with their design, so long as it was approved by the censors,” Kurpik said. “Now, they find that they must satisfy their client, and that can often squash creativity.”

   So, could it be that Polish poster art, once heralded by critics as the best in the world, may now be a dying genre? That’s the question Kurpik and her colleagues at the poster museum have posed in light of the organization’s “10th Polish Poster Art Exhibition,” a biennial event going on now until the end of the year.

   “Of course we don’t think it’s dying,” she said. “But we hope that the question will provoke conversation about what we believe to be one of Poland’s greatest art forms.”

   Ryszard Kajzer also doesn’t think Polish poster art is dying out. He’s one of 123 entrants to this year’s exhibition, which has been flooded by more than 500 posters created within the past two years.

   “The poster will exist as long as people walk the streets,” said the 28-year-old Kajzer, whose posters are marked by their bold colors. “With poster art you have to communicate immediately with your audience. The poster has to scream its message.”

   Kajzer’s posters reflect a current trend in Polish poster art. Gone are the dark days of the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s when artists used muted hues to portray existential visions of doom and dread.

   “This year we’re seeing lighter posters and more color,” Kurpik said. “There is also a return to the classics. People are painting a lot more and relying less on computer generated graphics.”

   So although the message behind Polish poster art has changed in recent years, the art itself is enjoying a rebirth, Kurpik said. But what direction the art form will take depends largely on what the artists themselves want to convey.

   Ironically, in the age of free expression there could be less to say.

   “The art is less dramatic than it was under communism,” Kurpik said. “I’m not sure that’s good for the art, but I know it’s better for the people.”

   To view entries to this year’s Polish poster art exhibition, go to www.xsalonplakatu.netman.pl (http://www.xsalonplakatu.netman.pl)