Andrzej Nowacki. Exploring the square

Room 1: Geometry – dancing and contemplative
 

Initially, he was inspired by images of the Polish master of geometric art, Henryk Stażewski. Today, he says of this period: 

“The fascination that I experienced at that time is almost impossible to express in words. The atmosphere of harmony, peace and order was of key importance, not only within this person, but above all in his pictures. The content of Stażewski’s painting could be clearly felt: it was the introduction of order into chaos. [...] And for me, looking for an inner order in my life, these geometric images held a particular significance; they were a kind of refuge. Also, the ordered space in the pictures harnessed an incredible amount of energy. This was the origin of the inspiration for my own work.”[1]

Everything begins with the square. This perfect geometric form embodies harmony and balance on the one hand, while on the other offering a limited, apparently calm and secure showcase for all manner of artistic activity. Yet the fixed boundaries do not enclose; rather, they loosen, break through, extend beyond themselves, without destroying the harmonious order. It was with this in mind that Andrzej Nowacki began to experiment during his first creative period. The simplest geometric figures, cut out from wooden panels, form the square base area with a certain degree of freedom: a large number of different smaller and larger squares and circles, which sometimes appear halved or broken, of lines that cut through the picture, or which take on a life of their own as empty frames. The mutual relationships between these apparently moving figures determine the inner dynamic of the pictures, intensified by the increasingly liberal use of colours. The artist uses acrylic paints which he mixes himself, thus creating a unique colour palette. The world of his squares during this time was characterised by an interplay of forms and colours, whereby both elements are of equal value and sometimes switch roles: the colour becomes form; the form becomes colour. (Figs. 03, 04, 05, 06)

In 1992, the art historian and curator Hubertus Gaßner wrote the following in the catalogue accompanying Nowacki’s first exhibition in Kraków: “The interplay of restraint and freedom, stability and weakness, calm and fluctuation, gives [...] Andrzej Nowacki’s reliefs the basic tenor of contemplative tension. Framed by right-angled wooden spars, the pulsing heart of the interior does not lie in chains, however. The heartbeat makes the squares dance. His intention: the ensoulment of the geometric, the retrospective clarification of the complex life of the soul. In order to bring order to the chaos of the soul, the artist introduces a healing chaos into the strictly ordered geometry of the squares. It is also a therapeutic creative act. His dancefloor is the square, the most harmonious of all forms. Then, during the process of creation, the field, which is at first calm and at peace with itself, starts to move. However, it is not the forms that dance within the frame, but rather the frame itself that starts to move. It fans out and multiplies itself like afterimages in the eye when registering impressions of movement.”[2]

The variations of these form-and-colour plays seem to extend into infinity. They appear highly emotionally charged and expressive; each relief seems to embody its own story. Nearly every work during this phase was given a poetic title, as though the artist wished to again expressly distance himself from the cool principles of the language of geometry, to travel beyond them and to bring the lyrical content of the image to light.