To see. Contemporary Polish Posters
Contemporary Polish Posters took on a very expressive poetics, creating an incredibly interesting phenomena, especially set against the so-called Polish School of Posters. It represents itself and clearly defines its own identity. This encourages attitudes that treat art as document or even as testimonies of the artist’s own experience. Among young poster artists, one can often find an attitude of distance towards that what was for the older generation of graphic designers the essence of creative identity. The language of Poster Art has become ascetic. It was “cleared” of unnecessary elements obstructing the message, and became more literal, the message more direct and straightforward.
Contemporary posters quickly became a collector’s or gallery item. Just a few years back, this caused abrupt discussions – today it’s not surprising and has even been accepted by most artists. Many of them create so-called “author posters” (non-commissioned work), inventing, for example, their own theatre or cinema, designing posters for fictional theatre plays or movies. These works, submitted to various competitions, often win prestigious awards.
In light of the above thoughts, one can conclude that although currently in Poland, a “new Polish School of Poster Art” has not yet evolved, we are definitely witnessing the birth of a new reality, aesthetics and a new style of Polish Poster Design.
The exhibition serves the purpose of showcasing various aspects of art of the younger generation of Polish Poster artists, setting them in context with contemporary works of master graphic designers. It will be a wonderful chance to analyse and compare works in terms of their poetics of image, to trace the influence of new technology on the style of posters and most of all, become acquainted with the outcome of the evolution, clearly visible in advertising content, in the realm of artist’s communication with the viewer.
Poster collection courtesy of the AMS Poster Gallery.
This exhibition in such a prestigious place as the 1+1 Art Centre in Beijing is the best promotion of Polish poster art inspired by the life and work of the famous Polish composer Fryderyk Chopin.
