press review
STREET ART – ENDANGERED SPECIES?
It is Natalia Kaliś`s text Na ulicy i w necie, czyli dynamika polskiego street artu (On the Street And on the Web – Dynamism of Polish Street Art – “ARTeon” 7/2008) thanks to which we can find out something about the state of street art in Poland. As it turns out, we lag behind the West, which in this particular case is, by no means bad because while their street art yielded to commercialization, ours still lives in its original and independent from the official circulation form. It will change slowly, of course. First symptoms have already appeared, an evidence for which might be the last-year’s exhibition “Polish Painting of the 21st Century” at the Warsaw art gallery “Zachęta”.
OCTOBER NIGHTS BY GÉRARD DE NERVAL
If Nerval (from “Literatura na Świecie” 3-4/2008), had spread his arms and jumped into the sewers with the smile of a lunatic on his face…, hmm, then he would have become Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Henry Miller, Witkacy, Charles Bukowski… and not just Gérard de Nerval. Of course, it’s not his fault that sex, deviation, cynicism and street language will enter literature no sooner than 50 years later. If it had happened in his times, we would definitely have had something to read. Then Erofeyev would never have gone from Moscow to Pietuszki for fear of committing plagiarism.
CULTURAL SCENE INVESTIGATION
Tension is building up slowly. Gradually, we enter the world in which crime is a part of everyday life and the darkest corners of the human soul cease to be a secret. The atmosphere of uncertainty and expectation continues till the last page. The main character becomes a guide. Whatever mask he/she is wearing – that of an eccentric private detective, an inquisitive girl or an intelligent police officer – we start to live and breathe the protagonist’s life. Apparently, the authors of the latest issue of “Czas Kultury” 3/2007 have also been attracted by the magical charm of a crime story since they have prepared for the readers a truly criminal, spine-chilling feast.
KEEP IT UP!
The most recent, number seven (7/2007) of “Zeszyty Komiksowe” is a solid chunk of work both on the part of the writers, as well as the editor-in-chief. Interesting and extremely valuable are such stories as for example: Tytus w prasie (Tytus In The Press), Bibliography with Leszek Kaczanowski’s commentary Rysuję więc jestem (I Draw Therefore I Am). Rzecz o Jerzym Wróblewskim (A Short Piece On Jerzy Wróblewski) by Macieja Jasiński, or Tor z przygodami (On The Road To Adventure). Adam Rusek’s 50 lat “Przygody” (50 Years Of “Adventure” ). Cross-sectional articles full of absorbing information, combined with the archival story boards, can offer an interesting journey into the past of the Polish comic strip art.