A visit to Pienkow Estate

            Traveling abroad is always a special experience, but a week's stay at the Pienkow Estate was particularly wonderful.  A meeting place where young artists of different nationalities can come to work together, where Polish gallery owners can form an opinion on the current situation and where professors from academies in various countries can congregate.  In short, this trip not only gave me the opportunity to discover the landscape of south-eastern Poland and to wander through cities such as Lublin and Zamosc, but also to ponder on the necessity of international contacts in the world of art, where, after all, this is a recurring theme.  Surely, there must be only a few people who deny the importance of international contacts for a stimulating artistic climate.  This question gained an exceptional dimension in the light of the extraordinary hospitality offered by the Pienkow Estate.  Poland, and in particular south-eastern Poland, always seemed a long way from home.  From now on, thanks to the many personal contacts and narratives, they will be much closer.

            The countryside with its typical flora and fauna, the rural communities scattered with historical and cultural markings have left a deep impression.  Despite my interest in the surroundings, however, the landscape was not what persuaded me to accept Dr. Marek Pienkowski's invitation.  It aroused my curiosity because the Pienkow Estate concerns a private initiative.  An attempt to present Polish visual arts with a fresh incentive.

            Although I am not an expert on former east-block countries (a connotation which I sincerely hope will cease to be part of our consciousness very soon), my knowledge of the socio-economic structures in relation to the functioning of the modern art world, is sufficient to realize that a new stimulus in this field will not simply be affected by the respective authorities.  The reconstruction of a free economy, succeeding a long period of led economy, is complex and demands a great deal of energy.  Therefore, it is of utmost importance that young artists are supported in this time of transition.  Above all, not only should the circumstances be changed but also something as elusive as mentality.  And a change in mentality not only concerns a change in personal identity, but a search for new forms of means of subsistence, eventually leading to the reformation of the status of the arts and artists.

            From the above, one can conclude that the practical and subjective transformations in this process run parallel.  Private initiative is effective and direct, breaking through the obscurity of transformation.  Dr. Marek Pienkowski buys and collects and his collection is steadily growing.  International exchanges take care of exposure.  My visit to the Pienkow Estate supplied me with a wealth of concrete and personal information.

            The 13 students present, of Polish, Dutch and Ukrainian nationality, were housed in guest studios.  We met up with them now and then and were able to observe them at work.  At an ensuing exhibition we were confronted with products of 3 weeks of work.  In such a confrontation one inevitably looks for similarities and differences.  The obvious similarities were related to the young artists' experiences with as crux the observable surroundings.

            The main differences of this period in time, technological, political and social, had been observed and internalized.  These differences recur in the themes and motives in their work.

            Technology as well as nature appear to offer important visual starting points and form, from a certain point of view, the origins for a complex scale of reflections.  They vary from a romantic, nostalgic yearning to keep the natural world intact to a fascination for what technological development has in store.

            Aleksandra Galant's (Lublin) work displays headstrong interpretation technique.  Maja Krysiak (Krakow) projects a video image onto a canvas alongside canvasses covered in flowers, whereas Olena Onufriv-Cizarek (Lviv) paints gay, expressive gardens and flower ornaments.  Julita Malinowski (Krakow) concentrates on bathing children.  In the works by the Ukrainian artists the human figure, more often than not, takes a central position.  Mykahaylo Barabash, Ina Moser and Mykola Molchan (Lviv) attempt a new approach to art through the use of classical figure studies.  It is not surprising that the work of the young Dutch artists, for whom the countryside of south-eastern Poland was totally unknown, was distinguished by close attention to the landscape and environment.  While the young artists from Poland and Ukraine chose to work in the seclusion of their studios, the Dutch artists explored the surroundings.  All were in competition of the Pienkow prize and the paintings by the winner, Margot Lamers, attest to a personal, intimate study of detail of the nearby village environment.  The work seems to be determined by the pervading wish to lose none of these seemingly insignificant details.  It is an ode to wonderment, as if she wants to warn memory to remain sincere and intact.

            The contacts with professors, gallery owners and Dr. Marek Pienkowski are witness to a lively art climate and a cautious optimistic mood.  Despite economical and political uncertainties, despite worries about the art market and indifference (especially as far as the gallery owners are concerned), there is a certain germination.  (The fertility of the Polish cultural soil is obvious in the rich collection which Galeria 72, the museum in the neighboring city of Chelm, has brought together since the 70's).  In a liberal atmosphere, with exchanges and the necessary transparency, it must be possible to coax this seed to full-growth.

Saskia Monshouwer