Michal JANKOWSKI (b. 1977), Degenerate Portrait II, 2011

oil, canvas, 60 x 50 cm;
signed, dated and described on the back: MICHAŁ JANKOWSKI / - PORTRET ZDEGENEROWANY - / (II) / 2011; on the painter's loom a sticker from the auction house: Van-Ham and SØR Rusche collection.

PROVENANCE:
- Van Ham Auction House, (7.10.2020, cat. no. 200) - SØR Rusche Collection;
- private collection, Poland;
- Wallspace Gallery auction (02.12.2021, cat. item 51);
- Private collection, Poland
- Galerie Zak | Branicka, Berlin;

In his painting, Michal Jankowski plays a conscious game with the tradition of
of avant-garde and surrealist art. In the case of the painting on display, also with the masters of portraiture from the circle of Dutch painting, the work of Andrzej Wróblewski or the popular traditional monolithic photographs. The artist is highly aware of the fact,
that in the field of art many conventions, currents and styles have a kind of repetitive cycle. He also appreciates the knowledge of the viewer, who, thanks to his previous experience, can in most cases confidently mention references, inspirations, influences related to the viewed
work of art. It seems that the artist poses a question about the condition of art in the face of the popular statement that "everything has already been". Has the formula of painting, visual arts, in such a situation been exhausted? Can a contemporary artist be innovative and free from all comparisons? Degenerate Portrait (II) may at the same time be an attempt to
artist's liberation from the circle of references, an attempt to destroy the
image by replacing the face of the portrayed with a geometric composition, and a tacit assent to the connotations arising in the viewer's mind.