Bartosz KOKOSIŃSKI (b. 1984), Central explosion, 2016

oil, canvas; 98.5 x 64.5 x 20 cm;
Signed, dated and described on the back: Bartek Kokosiński / 2016 / oil on canvas / 98.5 x 64.5 x 20 cm (in pencil).

From 2004 to 2009 studied at the Faculty of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow. Four-time scholarship recipient of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, winner of the Canadian Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation award. He participated, among others, in the 6th Triennial of Young Art in Oronsko and the 10th Geppert Competition in Wroclaw, and in 2015 he received an honorable mention at the 42nd Biennale of Painting "Bielska Jesień".
Individual exhibitions: 2017: Chad, Krynki Gallery, Krynki; Pastel Estate, Monopol Gallery, Warsaw; Community of Density Imagination, State Art Gallery, Sopot; 2016: Moment shearing the peg, Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Project Room, Warsaw; Zgrzyt, BWA Gallery, Gorzów Wielkopolski; Dysfunctional Matter, Knoll Galerie Budapest, Budapest, Hungary; Dysfunctional Matter, Knoll Galerie Wien, Vienna, Austria; 2015: Nothing is Real, but Everything is Possible, Wieża Ciśnień Gallery, Konin; Thermocol, Lubelska 30/32 U-42, Warsaw; Vapors, ABC Gallery, Poznań; 2014: Crack, Knoll Galerie Budapest, Budapest, Hungary; Crack, Knoll Galerie Wien, Vienna, Austria; 2013: Perverse Feces of Thought (Thomas Bernhard), Promocyjna Gallery, Warsaw, Poland; Images Devouring Reality (Bilder fressen Wirklichkeit), Klub Polskich Nieudaczników, Berlin, Germany; Fever, ABC Gallery, Poznań, Poland; 2012: Uncontrollable Content, Young Art Forum, Lublin, Poland; (Un)order of things, Bunkier Sztuki, Kraków, Poland; 2011: Some Paintings Don't Want to Be Painted, BWA Gallery of Contemporary Art, Katowice; (no) body (no) soul (no) art, Kameralna Gallery, Slupsk; 2010: In Form, Sztygarka City Museum, Dabrowa Gornicza; At the Beginning-End, Nova Gallery, Krakow; 2007: Shame of Repetition, Nova Gallery, Krakow.
"Kokosinski is a painter who escapes from pure painting, and wants to force the canvas to embrace reality as it is - with all of its jumble and mess. He moves between different streams of art. After all, he is a new incarnation of still life, but also of matter painting. His work has something of pop art, but also the legacy of Marcel Duchamp with his adoration of the object torn from reality and transferred into the world of art. Kokosinski bends (literally!) the canvas to the needs of reality. He wraps unnecessary objects in it, creating strange artistic packages. This is how "Images Devouring Reality" was created. Also the newer works - crumpled, corrugated, distorted - attract attention. This is art tailored for our times. A garbage dump of waste and ideas, a side effect of prosperity, a state of permanent saturation with images and information. It is also well reflected in the arrangement, with all the clutter. It may be too crowded at times, but it remains in the spirit of the exhibition's hero's work. "
(Author: Lukasz Gazur)