Dominik Lejman
Airbag
The painting depicts a man suspended by his arms and legs, with a car airbag placed between his knees. His breathing and movement are quite limited, due to the tight, unnatural position he is forced to assume. A slight movement of the body allows us to recognise what has been painted and what is being projected. The figure in the painting comes alive for a moment, tries to liberate himself, to break free. This is impossible, because his movement is limited by two airbags – the one he is holding in the image recorded on videotape, and the one painted on canvas.
Dominik Lejman
(b. 1969) a visual artist and educator, who combines painting with video projections, creates video murals and large-scale projection works. A graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk and the Royal College of Art in London. Since 2005, he has run the 2nd Painting Studio at the University of Arts in Poznań. He is a winner of the Polityka Passport award (2001) and the Berlin Art Prize (2018).