Rafal Bujnowski - VISA. DUSK. MUSEUM.

Rafal Bujnowski is one the most radical and intelligent contemporary painters. His art reveals a brilliant mixture of two, seemingly antagonistic disciplines - conceptualism and painting. The subject of his subsequent projects - paintings, videos, objects and actions - relates to the social conventions of an artist, the way the works of art and similar objects function, as well as the conventionality of art itself. Rafal's works are an example of a fully conscious conceptual painting - the objects which reveal and change their meaning depending on their surrounding are peculiar art models. Yet at the same time, his undoubted and unique artistic talent allows his works to be consumed as "self-propelled painterly pieces" - simply, very good paintings.

Among the exhibited works is a project entitled "Visa" - without a doubt one of the most perverse and bold artistic interventions of the recent years. Some months ago Bujnowski painted a photorealist, black-and-white self-portrait and enclosed its copy with his U.S. visa application form. The consulate workers did not realize the fact that they had been manipulated and so, a visa with a copy of a 'painting' - instead of a standard photograph - found its way into Bujnowski's passport! Using this document, Rafal crossed the U.S. border, the whole risky undertaking is complemented by documentation from pilot training course he had completed during his stay in New York in summer this year.

Another new project presented at the exhibition in Raster consists of a series of totally black paintings. Those are accompanied by videos revealing the history of the works: we witness the subsequent stages of paintings' creation - one can see the moody landscapes at sunset, until the very last brush stroke, when the painting turns completely dark. A moving story of the flickering nature of paintings and the power of imagination.

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Rafal Bujnowski
VISA. DUSK. MUSEUM.