12 December

Vernissage of Michał Piotrkowicz’s painting exhibition “Matches”

These works were first exhibited at the Museum of Philumenism in Bystrzyca Kłodzka over a month ago. The vernissage in the legendary Łysy Pingwin in Praga is the Warsaw premiere of this exhibition. The event was a success and was honoured with gadgets in the form of commemorative matchboxes with reproductions of the displayed works by Wołoszyn. Thank you all for coming and we would like to inform the latecomers that the exhibition will last 4 weeks.

From the author:
The series of works “Matches” was inspired by the turns of human fate. Man is like a match that ignites, burns and goes out. The key to understanding the cycle is fire, which symbolises, among other things, the vital forces of man. Just as it consumes the match, it also gives it the meaning of existence. The match passes on the fire it carries. It kindles the home hearth, giving us a feeling of warmth and security. Similarly, feelings ignite human hearts, where fire is invariably associated with love, which ignites lovers who, entwined in this feeling, burn and extinguish together.

A match lights a lantern in order to illuminate the path. A path which, even if we walk alone, this light makes more bearable, gives us confidence and protects us from stumbling. Man himself, in his essence, is a burning lantern travelling through time. What and for what purpose he burns is up to him. One can give in to emotions, seek purification or burn in defence of one’s beliefs or ideas like a burnt offering in an ancient rite.

They were literally burned by Ryszard Siwiec and Jan Palach, to whom I have devoted several works in this series. The fire that consumed them internally, their defiance of the totalitarian system, drove them to self-immolation. Manifestos of a desperate fight for freedom. In a similar way, to this day Tibetan monks protest against persecution. They give themselves over to the fire to burn like a living torch, hoping that this fire will purify people’s hearts and save their country.

Link to the event: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.463034940483610.1073741848.185632868223820&type=1