POINT OF VIEW
Seoul-Busan-Seoul
This exhibition is the result of several trips the artist made to South Korea, the last of which he considered as an artistic residency. With Seoul-Busan-Seoul he aimed to show the simplicity of things: empty spaces, narrow streets stuck between tall buildings, light reflections on automatic machines, bottles on restaurant tables... In this new body of work, Toma Jankowski has made the most trivial objects and places more appealing by recontextualizing them outside our common perception. A long-time connaisseur of the country, he uses his position as a foreigner to cast an outsider’s eye on what he believes no Korean sees or looks at.
Toma Jankowski draws on a wide range of references: his colourful creations, worked in gouache and collage on canvas, are like puzzles - ranging from Korean culture to contemporary art, nature, and everyday life. He takes his inspiration from jazz, traditional masks, folk customs, and typography to create a complex, ever-changing universe - typical of the artist’s vocabulary and imbued with great sensitivity and sincerity. Seoul-Busan-Seoul will also present the artist’s personal sketchbooks that followed him throughout his journey.
Paris, May 2023
2020
Old plans of plastic factories found by chance become the starting point of his approach: geometric and structured compositions are upset by external elements (drawings, collages) which disturbs the harmony.
Between research and improvisation, Toma Jankowski summons what he calls "fragments" of materials. Patterns, signs and numbers will gradually emerge on the wooden planks he uses as a support. His primary desire is not to be in pure meaning but rather to draw from classic references and use them as pretexts for creation.
Greek anatomies with the most classic craftsmanship are undermined by fragments of the contemporary world: scraps of advertising and cinema posters give free rein to painting and drawing.
Each work by Toma Jankowski is full of elements that allow us to see and think. Like a puzzle missing key pieces, it is now up to the viewer to build and complete his own story.
At the junction between painting and drawing, Toma Jankowski has been exploring the possi- bility of an «open» creation. Deeply influenced by jazz music and free improvisation, he likes to play with chaotic forms and complex patterns. His work is as much about drawing for the re- transcription of an idea as about painting for the choice of the materials. After studying design, he decides to start explo- ring the possibilities of improvisation by pain- ting. He actively collaborates with an artistic group, the Musical Activity Zone, created in XNUMX which explores the improvisation prac- tices. Looking for a lucky chance, his work aims to depict an ever-changing world and question the painterly process as a sensitive experience.