Windy Fugue 2018

Editor: This is Lech Jankowski’s “Windy Fugue,” painted in 2018. It seems to be acrylic paint, maybe even some pastel chalk, with a distinctive impasto texture. The painting evokes this strange sense of being suspended in between realities. How do you interpret this work? Curator: It's tempting to fall into biographical speculation, or even purely formal analysis. But as a materialist, I'm interested in the labor, the physicality, the *stuff* of "Windy Fugue". Look closely, and you will see that the materiality performs the primary function: to draw attention to what the artist does to his materials. Editor: So you see the process of applying the paint itself as significant, beyond just creating an image? Curator: Exactly. How does Jankowski's method challenge our understanding of high art versus craft? We can even consider the economy surrounding this painting - the mining of the pigments, the manufacture and distribution, its movement into a private collection. What do you think that process says about our society’s relationship to art and consumption? Editor: I hadn't considered all that. It feels like such an internal, almost spiritual image, but when you break it down, it’s intrinsically linked to production and consumption. Curator: And consider the impasto. The very thickness and texture forces us to confront the labor, the *effort* of its making. This wasn't magically conjured – someone physically layered this paint. That transforms the experience entirely. Editor: I agree. Thinking about the sheer physicality shifts the focus from just the visual to the act of creation. Thank you, I’ve got a new view on abstraction, with materiality taking center stage. Curator: Wonderful. Hopefully it will make people pause and rethink that dividing line of "fine art". It all started somewhere – how were these paintings materially realized and consumed?