MOLSKI gallery&collection invites you to the opening of Mariusz Kruk’s exhibition titled “There Are Two Kinds of Beauty: Beauty a) and Beauty b)”, which will take place on October 27.

The exhibition will feature over 40 works created over the past five years — including assemblages, objects, drawings, and sculptures. For the first time, pieces from four earlier exhibitions will be presented together: “Pion” (Municipal Gallery Arsenał, Poznań 2017), “Symbiosis of Opposites” (MAK Gallery, Poznań 2020), “Resonance of Events” (Municipal Gallery Arsenał, Poznań 2020), “/ arI sz kRU” (Biała Gallery, Lublin 2022), alongside new works created specifically for this exhibition at MOLSKI gallery&collection.

Each subsequent show in this cycle anticipates the next, continuing the artist’s reflection on themes raised in the previous one. The titular Pion — as Kruk explains — at first glance refers to the vertical orientation of the presented objects. In reality, however, it also defines the core theme linking the exhibitions: relationships between conflicting objects, facts, and ideas — such as good and evil, black and white, beauty and ugliness.

To playfully highlight the paradoxes of subjective perception, Kruk employs non-artistic objects. He demonstrates that it is form — rather than content — that determines the meaning and significance of a given object. He draws attention to the fragility of value and the hierarchy of objects, which shift according to the needs and expectations of the viewer. By constructing “beings” from material, everyday things that assert their physical presence, the artist moves closer to fundamental questions: What is matter? How does it come into being? He presents banal objects as “extraordinary” — as equally remarkable as those we typically consider important. He poses questions about form, meaning, and the potential for dialogue between seemingly contradictory elements:

“I show banal things or objects as ‘extraordinary,’ as equally ‘remarkable’ as those we consider essential. I draw attention to the existence of these forms and reflect on where the understanding between them lies — which of them constitutes the whole.”[1]
The exhibition “There Are Two Kinds of Beauty: Beauty a) and Beauty b)” illustrates the journey a viewer must undertake to shed perceptual limitations and discover beauty in simple, seemingly insignificant things. Recognizing that the same matter composes both conventionally beautiful compositions and those outside accepted aesthetic norms is the first step toward complete objectivization. Escaping the discourse of generalization — which reinforces cultural stagnation — is essential to reclaim the freedom of perception: the freedom to interpret the surrounding reality from any possible perspective.

By delving into the depth of an object, situation, or relationship, we encounter an energy that exists in and around the being — oscillating between good and evil, sometimes allowing us to forget the existence of either. Mariusz Kruk’s aesthetics deconstruct familiar norms, opening up a multitude of meanings, interpretations, and viewpoints for the viewer.

Opening: October 27, 2022, at 7:00 PM
Exhibition dates: October 27 – November 30, 2022

See works by Mariusz Kruk

[1] Mariusz Kruk in conversation with Bogna Błażejczyk before the exhibition Resonance of Events, May 20 – June 28, 2020, at the Municipal Gallery Arsenał, Poznań