The Vanishing Ability to Rest

Contemporary Art Gallery BWA Tarnów, 05.07–24.08.2014

“Oh, it takes a great skill, being able to rest. Whenever I decide to have a rest, even for an hour or half an hour, I start to feel anxious; I feel almost physically that the time which flows through me speeds up, sweeping me up with it, and I can see nothing I could brace my legs against or hold on to”.
Wiesław Myśliwski “Ostatnie rozdanie” (part of the book)

In works shown at the exhibition the artist compares their physical properties and permanent tension between them to the fatigue of human beings and their inability to rest, to which Myśliwski refers. In each of his works Smandek shows a state which the viewer has difficulty classifying as hard work or rest; an exhausting activity or idleness; tension or relaxation. Michał Smandek refers to the condition of modern societies and man in general, drawing attention to the vanishing ability of efficient rest, physical and psychical regeneration.

Ewa Łączyńska-Widz