Krzysztof Wlodarski,
aka Kali, born in 1977 in
Poland
.
Graduated at
University of Zielona
Gora,
Poland
(MA philosophy). In painting I am self taught, with some critical help from
Gosia Polonczyk. Influenced by art of Gottried Helnwein, Saturno Butto, Joel Peter
Witkin, Francis Bacon, art of Shibari and modern Bodyart movements. I'm also
musician , film-maker, and tattoo artist, living and working in
London
.
"These
works are reflecting the very moment of head-on collision between the primary
sphere of instinct ( sex and violence) and the secondary sphere of culture
(taboo). This leads to some sort of synthesis, its necessary result being a
transgressive form of art. I call it the sleep of reason, as in the picture by
Goya, because this is the manifestation of all that is pre-rational,
anti-enlightenment, anti-creative. It is about the moments of insanity when the
language and logic are suspended in favor of primal drives that are subject to
suppression by cultural structures"
Exhibitions:
*
Off Tracks',
Paris,
France
*
'1st
International Tattoo Convention',
Brighton,
Uk
*
Chelsea
Library Gallery,
London,
Uk
*
The Others -
Art Ensemble group show, Shoreditch,
London,
Uk
*
Cpop Gallery
- Cpopportunity group show,
Detroit,
USA
*
2nd
international tattoo convention,
Brighton,
UK
*
Black Lotus,
Paris,
France
*
Dirty Show,
Zurich,
Switzerland
*
Museum
of
Porn
in Art,
Zurich,
Switzerland
*
'Forma' art
festival, group exhibition,
Rawicz,
Poland
(May 09)
*
Resistance
gallery,
London,
UK
*
Parfitt gallery, Croydon art college,
London,
UK
The modern images of saints?
"While there are certainly
sexual themes in the paintings of Kris Wlodarski, I would be reluctant to call the works erotic. Instead I find his paintings a challenge to the viewer, mixing themes of vulnerability, fetish, isolation, dependency, and blindness with a religious undertone. But then again, since when has edgy and challenging not been associated with the darker side of erotic?
The figures in Wlodarski’s paintings seem to transcend their humanity into something otherworldly. The obstruction of their eyes and the restraint upon their bodies- placed in stark and mysterious settings, serves to separate these characters from reality. Who are these figures? Why are they there? Who has put them into bondage? The figures become almost alien and a distance is created between the viewer and the painting.
To be sure there is something slightly uncomfortable about these dark alien figures. They do not seem happy or sad; they simply seem to exist in their perpetual blindness. And where there is a manifestation of the erotic through the use of rope, gags, medical equipment, or gas masks it seems to serve more as a way to further isolate these figures rather than to bring them closer or make them more accessible. (...)"
text by Kayla
