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Łukasz Skąpski’s series of photographs of the sky, to which the work in Kolekcja II belongs, is a dialogue both with the possibilities of photography and the properties stereotypically attributed to this art form. In his commentary on the works, Skąpski states that the concept behind them lies in a rejection of the representational qualities of photography. The fragments of sky captured in the large format pictures walk a tightrope between being realistic images and thoroughly abstract visions that remind us of how fine the line separating these two conventions can be. The artist tests the effectiveness of perception and the schemata of interpreting an image, leaving the viewers with a sense of uncertainty about what they are actually looking at. Is the picture a photo of the sky or perhaps a reproduction of a monumental colour field painting?

The transformation of the sky view into a “painterly” abstraction carried out in Skąpski’s photos brings to mind the controversial tendency to think of photographs as documentary works, as well as the already common sense of suspicion a viewer has towards the depicted reality and the image’s objectivity. The abstract shots of the sky undermine photography’s documentary qualities in a similar fashion as a scene in Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1966 film Blow-Up. A magnified photo intended to serve as proof of a crime being committed is treated as a painting and consequently loses all realism and evidential force. Identifying the inspiration behind these works, Skąpski also pointed to the French literary critic Roland Barthes’s musings on photography.

Skąpski’s works, however, cannot be reduced solely to a game with the medium’s possibilities, refined technical exercises, dialogues with the history of painting or theoretical disputes surrounding the art of photography. Despite imploring the viewer to focus on the visual layer, the intriguing photos tie into issues that linger beyond the realm of depiction: to beauty, the verity of an image, and the symbolism of colour and light. The minimalism that is so dear to Skąpski is not only a declaration of his artistic leanings but also a metaphysical statement. The simplicity of his photographs extends far beyond the confines of aesthetics – it conjures the very limits of universal values.

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