Is It Important Who’s Hiding Behind the Painting?

Maciej Kurak’s installation can be perceived as a sort of Baroque concept. The figure hiding behind the white painting is definitely alluring. The viewer is attracted by both what is concealed behind the canvas, as well as by the artist’s intention, provoking ever new digressions. The piece is an attempt to answer the question facing every artist who invites the viewer to actively receive their work. The seemingly easy relationship between the work of art and the viewer is a question about the interpretation of art, particularly the newest art. Here, the traditional concepts, expectations, and the intellectual background shaped by educational programs which marginalize the common issues of contemporary culture seem to fail.

The procedure applied by the artist, which was supposed to intrigue the viewer, seems to suggest that the modernist concept of art is an outdated phrase. At the same time, it refers to the issue of the elements which legitimize a work of art. Kurak points to different things, starting from the frame, which encapsulates the painting within a set of limits and thus delineates its physical area. He also touches on the role of the artist or the question of creating canons, and the contribution of galleries, museums, curators, and critics in granting a particular artistic project the status of a work of art. Kurak tries to situate the viewer in a theoretical situation – what would happen if we did not know who was behind the painting (ergo: who is its author, who writes about it, who interprets it, where is it exhibited, for what collection has it been purchased), and what if we were completely unaware of the fact that we were standing before a picture?

When analyzing Kurak’s work, it is difficult not to refer to the classical essay by Roland Barthes Death of the Author (1968). The text is devoted to the problem of analysing the structure and content of a work in the context of the biography, convictions, and cultural background of the artist. The French critic and theoretician of literature questioned such a method of interpretation and the significance of the author’s intention. He stressed the need to look at the viewer, who – by interpreting the text when reading – creates a work of art. The position presented by Barthes is conspicuous in the attitude of Kurak, who accentuates the role of the viewer in the triad of artist-work-audience.

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