THE AUDIENCE IS A MIRROR OF THE ARTIST.
I assume in advance – and warn you, the dear reader of these words – that I will not deal with the same issues that are so often written about on such occasions. Therefore, I will skip the courteous praise of the artist and his work. There won’t be any of the suspicious compliments, nor pseudo-philosophical and wise nonsense that drive the reader to have complexes. You won’t find any of that here.
In fact, a catalogue of an exhibition like this one could even be done without text. The paintings of Stanisław (Staś) Mazuś would be fine without any comment. Cutting in on them by using words can make a misleading impression that they are addressed to those who are blind; to those who need explanation, who need to be initiated into a secret cipher of the art, who need to explore the significance and meaning of the paintings that are beyond the abilities of the healthy human eye. It is not like that. Stanisław Mazuś is an open person, and so as his work. There aren’t any secrets. There is neither snobbery nor pretension. Nor are there lies, even beautiful ones, which are so often seen in artistic creations of various caliber).
This is probably because, for his generation, he is one of the few exceptions who preserved the proven value of the tradition of painting, of art, that today seems to have disappeared. Even the word "painting", which still exists somewhere in the margins of language, is used reluctantly. As though bashfully. Rather, the term "visual arts" is used, although the concept of "art" has quite a different meaning today than it did in the past.
These are difficult areas of culture today, and for the time being – because there is no reason to – let’s not venture there. Creativity, as it is understood and practiced by Mr. Mazuś, lets us take a break from such things. He also lends us a forgotten simplicity of seeing the world. I wrote "Mr." although we have been on a first name basis for many years. I did this in order give the feeling that the artistic road he has chosen is a serious one, and that he treats us seriously. Of course, Mr. Mazuś and his audience also have a sense of humour. This is of strict necessity when viewing the series of self-portraits where the painter is dressed up in feathers and winking at us. But in general, his eyes are open and clear. He perceives the objects of the world, whose beauty is simple, and presents them with the help of simple painting tools.
Master Chardin perceived the world in a similar fashion in his still lifes, where a slice of bread and a piece of cheese that had been bitten into said everything there needed to be said about the beauty of the light. In a similar way, the still lifes of Staś Mazuś express the simplicity of the presented objects. I do not compare him with Chardin, artists shouldn’t be compared. I just want to say that the world can be observed as it was observed by Fransisco Zurbaran, or by Dutchmen in the seventeenth century, or by the more contemporary Morandi. Here, the world is observed by paying attention to its simplicity, its mundanity and prose. Pieces of reality, seen by chance, are expressed through everyday objects.
In reality, the real subject of these images is light. Light overexposes the colour, courageously, yet with no impudence, put there with the help of a paintbrush. Here I come to a difficult point that I would prefer to be silent about. I wouldn’t like to write here about the virtuosity or the unerring mastery of the skill of painting. Because even though these are to the artist’s advantage, they can characterise the painter as a juggler, as an acrobat who brilliantly waves his trowel and his paintbrush. I would prefer to remain silent about the fact that Mazuś is undoubtedly a virtuoso. Each of his brush strokes proves that. However, as much as I know him and as much as I know his paintings, I also know that his work isn’t done for glory, but with an ordinary sense of professional decency, which is obligatory if one treats the mission of painting in a responsible way. Everyone can see this for themselves and will not feel cheated. Nevertheless, please feel free to call him „master” just to see his face blush from embarrassment.
Here, in turn, I come to a point that I cannot pass over in silence. Because as I am writing and writing, I have in my memory Stanisław’s face. His look and his smile. The sound of his voice. His intonation and articulation. His hand gestures. These memories are overlapped with memories of his paintings, and I can’t overlook the fact that that these two belong together. They create an aura of compatibility between a man and how he expresses himself through creativity. This is so important, because art is able to deceive through a variety of appearances, to lie as much as possible, to inspire shallow snobbery, and, finally, to dupe the viewer. Artists (but mainly those who wish to pass as such) can be double or triple- faced, reproducing themselves with neurosis and aspiration.
However, you will see none of these things here. Only honest communication and truthfulness. Truth in art is a rarity. It is a treasure because it hardly ever happens. And it is happening here right now.
I am afraid that the artist may not be pleased with me for approaching his work with such a point of view, instead of glorifying his compositions, the excess of expression, the technique, the optical qualities and so on and so forth. He may say that I am testing his resistance to praise. So let this be enough.
Let’s move on to objective facts, of which there won’t be too many here, since the artist’s biography mentions them in detail. After graduating from high school, Stanisław Mazuś studied painting in the studio of Professor Eugene Eibisch at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. He graduated from this Academy with honors. I know a little about the friendly relations between the professor, who was an outstanding colourist, and the promising student. A promising student, because Stanisław didn’t want to blindly imitate his teacher. Eibisch, a master of his art, was a careful and sensitive teacher. Certainly, he respected the artistic personality of his student who wasn’t satisfied with simply copying his teacher’s work.
If we do treat Mazuś as a colourist, we will do so in a different sense. You can take a look for yourselves. I can only guess that the secret acquired from his master was nothing more than a responsible attitude to the duties of a painter. It cannot be ruled out, however, that this responsibility to his vocation was already a personal inclination of "this promising student". People call this "a talent". This I cannot judge, but I do recall a written work that was a part of Mazuś’ master’s defense. As early as 1967 he had created a kind of "manifesto", expressing a very personal view of the problems facing the art of painting, which had already been violated by countless avant-garde artists of the twentieth century.
This text is also interesting because it tries to diagnose the global artistic crisis in a gentle way, and indicates a possible way forward. A short quotation: Can contemporary paintings gain the popularity enjoyed by the paintings of the old masters? It seems that this is impossible. Paintings from the fourteenth century, from the nineteenth century, aside from presenting great ideas and timeless emotion, illustrate life, the world, man. The modern painter does not do this. He considers this effort unnecessary – and perhaps rightly so – because we can see the same thing, in even greater depth, more clearly, and in more splendor, on the screen using a projector and film. Can contemporary paintings gain the popularity enjoyed by the paintings of the old masters? It seems that this is impossible. Paintings from the fourteenth century, from the nineteenth century, aside from presenting great ideas and timeless emotion, illustrate life, the world, man. The modern painter does not do this. He considers this effort unnecessary – and perhaps rightly so – because we can see the same thing, in even greater depth, more clearly, and in more splendor, on the screen using a projector and film.
Even though he is aware of the impossibility of the are of painting regaining its former prestige, he takes the risk. He will be himself and he will give of himself as much as he can. What's more, he will continue to develop through his whole artistic life. Another quote: ...Lack of faith in the future does not allow painters to make permanent, indestructible things. What they do make is made sloppily and quickly, just for today. I attack this kind of attitude of the artist to their work, but at the same time defend and justify their difficult economic situation, which destroys talent and ambition.
I will not even try to count the number of exhibitions he has had of his paintings. Those who are curious enough will surely find the number in a separate note. It is quite large, which on the one hand explains the desire of the artist to show his work to the public, a natural goal of any creative activity. On the other hand, it also means that the artist can see his work in such an order, and in such a space, that he has never seen before. In the studio, paintings are usually hidden in stacks. Sometimes they are taken out into light for a short time. They wander from place to place. Over time, they change.
Only in an exhibition is all this brought to the surface, and order is made of this mess of paintings, showing the artist who he really is. What he has done or what he has achieved. What he can still do for himself and for the audience. What is his artistic (and purely human) future. Everything seems to indicate that Mazuś likes to do exhibitions, and likes all that follows from these exhibitions. And the chance for introspection that this situation creates for the artist. His creative potential looks at these chances as in a mirror.
What’s more, apart from his painting activity, Stanisław Mazuś can also be quite social, an active builder of artistic forums and a proven companion at social events. This is because he is simply a likeable, understanding and conflict-free colleague. This also counts in our world of business sharks and hypocrisy. His consistent "realism" is revealed both in life and in art.
We should also remember that while his artistic career, which has spanned over fifty years, and has been his great adventure with painting, with numerous successes, has also been filled with difficult and bitter experiences. The lifelong choice of creativity is a big risk with a road full of potholes. The art road has many victims lying in the ditches. The artist has to keep going until the promise of sense appears somewhere on the horizon. Mazuś’ paintings seem to say that "behind all this, there is the essence of the whole visible world". What is this essence and where is it? Let each one of us answer these questions individually.
Ultimately, it is how it is, as we can see in this exhibition. The end crowns the work, we would like to say; however, we are full of hope that the end is far, far away. Anyway, the work is already crowned. The artist is determined. He has achieved all the positive qualities which have been mentioned above and his class in painting will remain at its level. His next paintings will prove this, and will serve as an example for further witnesses of history, to convince them that all the rumors about the death of painting were decidedly premature.
Autumn of 2016