Series of conceptual paintings

-2023-

Cultural Cubism is the artist’s third series of conceptual paintings under the title Neue Malerie (New Painting) in which Jankowski created 35 paintings focusing on Picasso in response to the 50th anniversary of his death, a time when the art world was once again shining a spotlight on the hugely famous painter. Jankowski was invited to show Picasso I his interpretation of Guernica in Bucharest; in a solo show synchronized with the much awaited Picasso Effect exhibition held at the Museum of Recent Art.

Since 2015 Jankowski has been developing an archive of digital found photographs of people recreating famous paintings by employing poses, costume, props, sets and makeup. The artist sends his selection of these images, with exact size specifications to established painting reproducers in Dafen China who then ship the exact replicas back to him, the only difference being the change in medium – from photography to painting. The dimensions of the canvas always stay true to the size of the original masterpieces; however the new paintings almost always appear with a strip on the bottom or right side of the canvas untouched depending on the proportions of the photograph. 

In Cultural Cubism Jankowski deals not only with the literal battlefield of Guernica and all its cultural weight but also a metaphorical one – the difficult topic of Picasso’s problematic relationship to women. Through electing images within which women place themselves in the position of Picasso’s muses with full autonomy over their portrayal, Jankowski once again transfers the beacon of power. Furthermore, the multiple facets of authorship and cultures involved in the process are also examined; from the World Wide Web to painters in China, models and makeup artists are all internationally interlinked by Jankowski in this almost performative creation of the series. Each painting is defined by the collaboration of performance, photography and painting artists.