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We invite you to the opening of Arkadiusz Karapuda's exhibition "Parergon" on Friday, May 26, at 18.00, University Art Gallery of the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, 43 Głęboka Street, Lublin.
The exhibition is open May 27, 2023 - June 25, 2023.




Arkadiusz Karapuda's exhibition Parergon is an experiment in deconstructing the artist's epigraphic works. It is worth noting that a similar procedure has already taken place at the Think Twice exhibition at Wozownia Gallery in Toruń. The current show seems to be the culmination of an earlier initiated process. It is a radical step, a moment in which disintegration occurs, but only to reveal hidden potential and initiate the formulation of the message anew.
The term parergon (para - beyond, ergon - work) - which is the title of the exhibition - describes that which is situated next to the main representation, which is the space between the work proper and its surroundings. The parergon is an addition to the work and, at the same time, makes it possible to define and specify it. This notion can be referred to the strategy usually employed by Karapuda, which involves attaching a painted "frame" to a painting with an English-language sentence on it as a commentary on the main representation. Constituting a parergon, the "frame" consisting of illusively painted panels, is made of the same material as the painting and forms a unified plane with it. This "frame" is monochromatic and varied in value to enhance the illusion. It establishes an evocative game with the main representation through a strong contrast of color, it does not try to be unnoticed, it is a frame and at the same time a part of the painting. In addition, in large-format realizations, it is composed - in a purely technical sense - of many sub-images. The peculiarity of its construction makes it naturally open to metamorphosis. Deconstruction was only a matter of time, it is a natural process here, resulting from its structure.
In the current exhibition, the "frames" separate from the original painting compositions and become completely independent, no longer accompanying any representation, no longer commenting on any quotation from reality. The former "frames" form a horizontal frieze or are arranged in irregular forms, still retaining the legibility of the placed
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sentences. The English-language inscriptions, dealing with the issues of truth, information and color and their mutual relations, as well as the question of art itself (The truth will set you free, The truth becomes a commodity, The truth is like art, Colour is a message, Message is a color) refer to themselves and to the surrounding reality. They "seek" contact with whatever is in the gallery space: the silent whiteness of the walls, the audience, a door, a curtain or a window.
The modification and reduction of the original compositions creates an opportunity for the viewer to notice what he or she has so far overlooked and to see new contexts. It forces the viewer to adopt a different point of view than before, thus bringing him closer to the truth.

Piotr Korol