Some painters are special in that they create several parallel universes simultaneously. Łukasz Huculak has for years followed several themes, or motifs, in his work. Those familiar with it are now used to this multiplicity. In fact, everyone seems to consider it typical of him as a painter. So many realities and concomitances, so many inspirations in the world around us and in imagination are hard to give up on. But why give up? Don't give up anything!
Andrzej Wróblewski's body of work includes a sketch made in a Poznań museum gallery. It is the profile of a bare, muscular leg of St. Christopher in a triptych by the Milan painter Il Borgognone. With his attention to detail, the Renaissance artist apparently captured Wróblewski's imagination. Evidently, a sketch could come in handy… Art remains a key source of inspiration, as painters know how to look closely at details in paintings of their colleagues, not only those who lived centuries ago. Sometimes this close attention derives from genuine, nearly devout fascination; sometimes it comes as a challenge: from the need to create yet another variation. The reasons differ, as do the results. The gaze directed at other paintings is not always analytical: it could be random. If never exactly chaotic, then certainly not always self-aware. A beam of light may be crucial, as can a reproduction of a fragment glimpsed in a book, or a hint offered by a friend. But the reasons are not the key, the works are. After all, "by their fruits you shall know them".
A counterweight is offered by a very different source of inspiration for Łukasz's practice. Sometimes, almost unbeknownst to the artist, new amazing worlds spring from under his hand. He spills paint or prepares the foundation or background for a new painting and, suddenly, he discovers a new intriguing world on canvas: the more ambiguous the form, the better. "The Experiment" series comes across as such a phenomenon. These are double experiments: the painter's experiment on canvas, and the imagined experiment of what is represented. The former experiment of the painter more often than not is a success; the latter, scientific experiment, however, may fail. Disaster, after all, is part and parcel of the scientific quest, even though (luckily) no bloodbath is involved. While Łukasz Huculak is keen to look to science for precise theories, yet he grants himself a good deal of freedom and relies on chance, guided by the belief that uniqueness matters most of all. All of this makes him more of a painter than a theoretician.

Boguslaw Deptula



DETAILS/SPACES
individual exhibition; National Gallery of Art, Sopot 2015
texts: Boguslaw Deptula, Lukasz Huculak, Bartlomiej Skowron
design: Ryszard Bienert

To view the catalog of the exhibition click HERE

THINKING WITH THE SENSES.
Boguslaw Deptula talks to Lukasz Huculak

To read the interview click HERE