Jan Tarasin Sequences of meaning

How can we categorize art that balances between two seemingly contradictory forms of artistic expression?
Art that oscillates between the objective existence of an object and its non-figurative abstraction?
How can we fit such art into familiar frameworks, when its very nature resists classification?

These questions seem to aptly reflect the work of Jan Tarasin—an artist whose practice consistently escapes conceptual confines. Spanning over half a century, Tarasin’s artistic journey followed a kind of sinusoidal rhythm, shifting between a tendency to depict the tangible world and a drive to abstract or de-objectify it, leaving only a trace of its former presence in reality.

Tarasin sought a holistic meaning of “things”—a meaning that could not be contained within the boundaries of perception. What binds his profoundly intellectual and distinctive work is an ongoing inquiry: Does an object lose its meaning and subjectivity the moment it is stripped of its physical form? When does it cease to be what it just was?

The exhibition “Sequences of Meaning” presents around 20 paintings by Jan Tarasin, tracing the evolution of his style across successive decades. Of particular note is the subtle process of abandoning certain artistic elements in favor of others—elements that become enriched with meanings, forms, and narratives not previously associated with them.

The core of this retrospective narrative is built around works from the 1940s to 1960s, which from their very inception reveal the emergence of tendencies that would later dominate Tarasin’s practice. A turning point in his artistic development, occurring in the late 1960s and early 1970s, is marked by original and rarely exhibited relief-like paintings—echoes of his earlier easel compositions. The numerous and persistent transformations that characterize the mature phase of his highly refined style can be observed in works created from the 1970s through the early 21st century.

exhibition: 23.03 – 30.04.2023

MOLSKI gallery
Aleja Wielkopolska 65A
60-603 Poznań