Tomek Baran: Xanax

Das STRABAG Kunstforum freut sich, zur Eröffnung der Ausstellung des beim STRABAG Artaward International 2012 ausgezeichneten, polnischen Künstlers, Tomek Baran, herzlich einzuladen.

Begrüßung: Dr. Peter Krammer, Mitglied des Vorstandes, STRABAG SE
Zur Ausstellung: Johannes Knoll, Knoll Galerie, Wien / Budapest
Kamil Julian, Kunstkritiker und Kurator, Warschau

If you place a flower inside a neon lamp and turn electricity on, the light coming from the lamp would probably resemble one of Tomek Baran’s colourstripe paintings. His art has something of a scientific laboratory where beams of lights refract and bodies in test-tubes deform. This, however, exists only in the eye of the beholder. His works remain abstract: they employ no symbols;they refer to no outer world. Yet like a broken mirror they reflect. The line,recurrent in most of his works, cuts the plain into two, three or four areas,breaking the image. A painting you can’t break. You may fold it, pull or push it, scratch or cut it – and some of these have been performed by Tomek Baran – yet it remains. Unlike broken glass, a broken painting can’t cut your hand or eye-ball. Devoid of noise or anger, his art is neither emotional nor rational; it is both and none at the same time. A painting you can’t break because painting is already broken. Yet it remains attractive. Kamil Julian