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This work of Robert Maciejuk belongs to the cycle of panneaux titled Aviation Paintings, which draw inspiration from the graphic markings of military aircraft of nations that took part in the Second World War.* The piece consists of twenty one autonomous modules, each of which features a mark identifying the particular air force. The artist reproduced the signs faithfully, retaining the original graphic layout and colours. However, each mark is presented against a decorative background only loosely resembling the colour of an airplane, thus a proper context in which the emblem originally appeared.

Markings as formal and semantic details began to appear in Robert Maciejuk’s work in the mid 1990’s. The artist applied his painterly interpretations to logos of companies and organisations, as well as to various kinds of warning, informational and traffic pictograms. He slightly manipulated their forms, proportions and colours to test the mechanisms of perception along with the habits of viewers and their culturally-conditioned reactions. The artist’s measures were accompanied by questions regarding the permanence of the meaning assigned to a marking. Does a manipulated emblem still retain its meaning? Where is the borderline of its integrity with respect to form and message?

To detach the graphic motifs appearing on planes from their appropriate backdrop is synonymous with removing them from their historical context. Markings from German bombers appear alongside markings from Soviet or American planes. Together they comprise a rigorous composition whose elements are not permanently affixed to each other – they can be rearranged to express new meanings. Although a lay viewer may have difficulty with accurately identifying for which side of the conflict the craft is fighting, the juxtaposition of these emblems still rouses a sense of unease, with the search for references to enable understanding of the unified piece being an automatic reaction. Maciejuk is aware of the significance of the motifs he utilises. He juggles them freely, extracting their formal properties as well as their artistic qualities, translating their language of symbolism into a language of geometric abstraction.

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*  The point of departure was probably a book by Ryszard Kaczkowski, Samoloty bombowe II wojny światowej [Bomber Aircraft of WWII], Warszawa 1987.