Konrad Pustoła
White-Red
In his projects Konrad Pustoła, a photographer and an author of video works, analyses visual aspects of social and economic relations without depriving them of high aesthetic values. His works often have a sociological angle, with their author clearly applying a critical perspective.
Pustoła’s early documentary photographic projects were inspired by American socially involved photography. In 2001 this young artist was awarded at the Polish Press Photo competition for his Sanna [Sleigh Ride] series which portrayed the life of people living in the Bieszczady mountains. Pustoła’s economic education has drawn his attention to a wide spectrum of social issues and phenomena; it has sharpened his critical view and activated a specific type of sensitivity which can be seen in the artist’s further works. In his Ale Meksyk [Mexico] photographic series (2002) Pustoła captured the climate of a South-American metropolis carrying the stigma of sharp divisions of social inequalities and signs of a coming political storm. In his Unfinished Houses and Unfinished Factories series (2005) Pustoła used the documentary form to show the effects of recurring crises, so typical for free market economy at the time of the Polish transition. The artist likes to present his works in series, to compile photographs and organise images depicting a given subject, which enables him a significantly wider expression than in case of a single photograph. Sometimes what turns out important for Pustoła is also what one cannot see on the picture, like in Darkrooms (2009). This series of large-scale photographs portraying empty areas in gay clubs, purpose designated for having sex, which have only just been vacated by their users, inevitably puts the viewer in a position of an unwitting voyeur – someone who came there “a moment afterwards” and on the basis of traces left behind can imagine or reconstruct the situation that had just taken place. These photographs seduce with their aesthetics, they disarm and bring the viewer into both intimate and controversial areas. In one of his latest undertakings, a work in progress project entitled Widoki władzy [Views of Power] Pustoła presents a series of window views from offices and apartments of the most important and most influential people from various Polish cities (Warsaw, Kraków, Zielona Góra). The artist uses the medium of photography as a handy tool, which, thanks to transposition, allows anyone looking at the pictures to assume the same viewpoint as that of the authorities at power.
In {Bank Pekao Project Room} Pustoła presents his new video called Biało-czerwoni [White and Reds]. Here the artist has used a substantial amount of footage filmed in Warsaw at the Euro 2012 football championships. During the first half of the Poland vs. Russia game Pustoła used a nearly “bird’s-eye view” perspective to film the behaviour of people watching the match on a big outdoor screen in the fan zone outside the Palace of Culture and Science. The reactions of the dense, heavy crowd who follows the actions of the players on the pitch perfectly capture the course of this sports event and emotions it evokes. This piece of work is quite long; it is nearly as long as a half of a football match. The sunlight falling on the crowds of fans wearing sports T-shirts is a special “character” in this film: the sunset gradually changes the dominating colours of the frames, it moves very slowly from white to red, thus giving the work a symbolic meaning.
- Curated by
- Ewa Gorządek
