Mateusz Szczypiński
Born 1984, author of collages and oil paintings, serves anew the patterns that have already been copied millions of times. In 2009 he graduated from History of Art at Jagiellonian University and in 2012 from Painting at Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow. His practice seems to respond to Walter Benjamin’s theory of the disappearance of the category of authenticity and individual expression in the era of mass reproduction. Velazquez’s The Infant, Van Eyck’s The Arnolfini Wedding, or Manet’s Breakfast on Grass – these works are our visual companions from the canon of history of art. Trivialised and reproduced in various sizes and in different quality, the paintings of old masters inhabit the collective memory, retrieved from within imagination upon the keyword “European painting”. Szczypiński launches a game with the museum discourse – he distances himself from the set of acknowledged works and uses them to produce a painted found footage. The title of one of the paintings – Hamilton’s What Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing? – perfectly expresses the spirit of his practice, which seduces with obvious quotations and plays on art history. Lives and works in Cracow.
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DOCUMENTATION | DOKUMENTACJA
