Ceci n’est pas un titre. C’est un tableau – ćwiczenia dialektyczne z malarstwa

Abstract

On the 20th of march 2023, at the Faculty of Philology of the University of Białystok, Professor Arkadiusz Karapuda gave a lecture entitled Ceci n’est pas un titre. C’est un tableau – Ćwiczenia dialektyczne z malarstwa (Ceci n’est pas un titre. C’est un tableau – Dialectical exercises on painting). His visit marked the celebrations of the International Francophonie Day. The Artist began by mentioning the influence of the Belgian surrealist René Magritte and the thought of the French philosopher Michel Foucault who both played a role in his inspirations. He went on by presenting the consecutive stages of his artistic creation and vision. Some of the crucial elements of his work are the dialectic in play “between the word and the object” as well as “between the word and the image”. In his art, there is a specific interdependence of, among others, the title, the metaphor, the persiflage, trompe-l’œil, all of which then crystallize in a certain “ontology of the image”. As practical examples of his conception, Mr. Karapuda chose ten examples of his works, from the ones representing his earlier years as a painter until more recent achievements, reflecting his present artistic phase, ambiguity being one of the most important aspects thereof. This sense of ambiguity is caused by the use of bordures and inscriptions as integral parts of the paintings, creating a dialectical game of the (alleged) title and the painting itself. It had been already seen on the famous work by Magritte with the inscription “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” that was also shown during the lecture. The present stage of Mr. Karapuda’s artistic conception is also influenced by certain concepts (e.g. “ergon” and “parergon”) of another philosopher, also from the world of the Francophonie, Jacques Derrida. * Arkadiusz Karapuda, born in 1981 in Żyrardów, Poland. Between 2002 to 2007, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. He graduated summa cum laude under Professor Marek Sapetto. He won numerous awards and accolades, including: the Józef Szajna Prize (2007), the Bank BPH Prize (2007), the Inicjatywa Entry [Entry Initiative] Scholarship (2008), the West Pomeranian Voivodeship Marshal Prize at the 24th Polish Contemporaneous Painting Festival in Szczecin, Poland (2012), and the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage Scholarship (2014). As a visual artist, Arkadiusz Karapuda authored almost thirty individual exhibitions and participated in more than a hundred and thirty collective exhibitions. He presented his works in Poland and many other European countries, as well as in China. His artistic metaphorical creation is characterised by a puristic style of rendering the forms and by an almost obligatory narrative. From 2007, he has been engaged by the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, where he leads the Drawing Studio for the first-year students (this biographic note is based on the information provided by Professor Arkadiusz Karapuda).