Empathy of the Singular to the Plural and vice versa, 2010
In his project, Jarosław Kozłowski scrutinizes with suspicion the correlation of language to the reality that it describes or represents. Calling forth the notion of empathy, he unveils the cultural, political and economic uses (and abuses) of virtually iconic representations that seem familiar and obvious. By juxtaposing and replicating some recognizable elements of the visual environment, he doesn’t propose simple contradictions or relationships. The latter often turn out to be a purely rhetorical game, as in the multiplied image of Mao in the work entitled Empathy of Chairman Mao for the Chinese nation and vice versa. The artist multiplies the doubts, unveils the paradoxes and ambiguities that are part of a mechanistic reading of history and contemporaneity, as in Empathy of Mr Hitler for Mr Stalin and vice versa. Jarosław Kozłowski, a leading figure of conceptual art, humorously deconstructs generally accepted myths, skilfully fishes them out from currents of meaning and from their trivialization. In perverse visual and language-based games, he distorts the contemporary visual world where images prevail disconnected from their prototypes, and where the aesthetics of design commodify even such niche practices as street art.
Mr Hitler`s Empathy for Mr Stalin and Vice Versa, 2010
Empathy of the Vertical to the Horizontal and Vice Versa, 2010
Empathy of the Truth to the Lie and Vice Versa, 2010
Empathy of Chairman Mao for the Chinese nation and Vice Versa, 2012
Empathy of Myth for Mythology and Vice Versa, 2012
Empathy of Sacrum to Profanum and Vice Versa, 2012
