JAROSŁAW FLICIŃSKI, IDEOLOGICAL EXCERCISES - JUMPS INTO THE WATER, 1993 (1-14/14)

JAROSŁAW FLICIŃSKI – IDEOLOGICAL EXERCISES – JUMPS INTO WATER, 1993

In 1993 Jarosław Fliciński has painted first paintings from the „Jumps into water” series at his Gdańsk workshop. Inviting an individual performer, Gary Hell, for cooperation, he has profoundly read the reality, rejecting the binding myth about the „end of history”, releasing from thinking. In winter of 1993 Fliciński and Hell, led by artistic intuition, started Ideological Exercises.

Innocent gestures of a usual undressed person display into atoms sick fantasies of a superman and the cult of a leader. Gary Hell takes a pseudo-serious blind off totalitarian gestures and disarms propaganda based on contempt to people. The duet Flicński/Hell does not educate, abide, socially mobilize anyone nor manifest, and a lemon and an eggplant appear to be stronger than "heil hitler".

Jarosław Fliciński: We were totally different, and this was probably what attracted us most. Each had something lacking the other one. We were naive enough, and this made us want to create, and imperative of creating was on both sides enhanced by intuition. Our vision of reality has absolutely abstract character, and each of us perceived it differently. We had a workshop, a borrowed camera and several tapes, several canvas, a tape recorder and not much more, in spite of appearances. He was like a messenger from other time, who brought a ready topic to the workshop. He did not live at my place at that time; he left, and I was standing in front of the paintings. He came back every several days, ate, washed for hours, slept, stayed for some time, changed clothes to another in my wardrobe and moved further. One day he came, as always. He ate, took a bath, stood in front of the camera against the background of by paintings and after some time said something, that I have always wanted to say:

Hell: I would like to have Porsche. I would like to go to Zakopane for one day. I would like to leave Poland… for two… three days.

Fliciński: Video was our only common medium. We accepted our positions, and because we did not play anything, we managed to record something, which reflects the atmosphere of those tomes quite accurately. The speech of words was replaced with the speech of gestures. In all works with Gary Hell I am never in front of the camera, only my paintings are on the background. He replaces me perfectly. I have been dreaming about this case. He plays me.