Polish painting on Expo in Shangahi

27.08.2010

Polish architecture, posters, graphics and paining attract a lot of visitors to the Poland Pavilion on Expo in Shanghai. That is why in August visitors have the chance to see works of one of the most distinctive young Polish painters - Paweł Skurski.

- It is really amazing how in his works he makes symbols of traditional pop culture acquire a classic nuance. His negation of the world’s ugliness ranks him with contemporary avant-garde painters - said Sławomir Majman, Commissioner General of the Polish Section on Expo in his introduction during the exhibition opening at the Poland Pavilion.

The painter’s works selected from the cycle presented in Shanghai are shown on a screen in front of the Pavilion and attract attention of the visiting Chinese who quickly form a queue. It takes several minutes to get to the medium-sized exhibition hall were the works are presented. Here it should be stressed that the visitors have already queued twice before getting to the exhibition: for several hours in the main queue to the Pavilion and normally for 30 minutes inside the Pavilion to see the “Animated history of Poland” by Tomasz Bagiński. Still they choose to wait and see the exhibition. And - as they later report - have no regrets about the third queue as the exhibition was worth it.

Exhibition of Paweł Skurski’s works in the Poland Pavilion on Expo in Shanghai

The comments are hardly surprising. The dynamically changing pictures are like film frames depicting moments in life. Skurski’s works seem to particularly strongly appeal to Chinese young people.  Presumably because it is the generation that has been experiencing the fastest changes in new China.

- We look for ourselves in the paintings. And we do find our reflection, although in a European version - says Xu, a beautiful girls who decided to spend a day on Expo with several friends. - Besides it seems that modern things and issues combined with tradition constitute the characteristic feature of the whole Pavilion - adds Xu. Judging by what Skurski himself says about his works - “I defend the ancient art and traditional aesthetic values like the Renaissance artists in the past”- Xu quite accurately read his intensions.

Since the very beginning of his artistic career Skurski was seen as an outsider. His exhibition in the Poland Pavilion on the World Exhibition Expo in Shanghai proves that Skurski - what was emphasised by the Commissioner Majman - evaluated from the outsider's to the leading position.

The exhibition will last until the end of August.

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