Konrad Smoleński
Drawing
Made in 2001, Konrad Smoleński’s Drawing is a for-camera performance dealing with the author’s personal struggles related to artistic and educational pressures during his studies. Half-naked, maintaining a dispassionate facial expression, Smoleński flagellates himself and apologizes to his drawing teachers for his laziness, repeating the mantra: “I didn’t attend drawing classes.” His statements, uttered in a monotonous voice, are filled with negative evaluations of himself: “I’ve been lazy,” “I’ve been unsystematic,” “I’ve let my professor down.”
Konrad Smoleński
(b. 1977) a multimedia artist and graduate of the University of Arts in Poznań. He is the author of installations combining sound, video and performance art in which the energy of punk rock meets minimalist aesthetics. His works, often based on live sound manipulation, explore the boundaries between rock music and contemporary art. The artist received the Views Deutsche Bank Foundation Award (2011) and represented Poland at the 55th Venice Biennale of Art (2013). He is a co-founder of the sound and performance project BNNT and the artistic collective Penerstwo.