Wanda Michalak, Fernando Pontes, Anna Witkowska “Distortions & Reflections” 28.11.2015 – 1.02.2016

November 28, 2015 1:01 pm Published by
Distortions & Reflections

“Distortions & Reflections”: different takes on fractured, altered and reflected reality by Wanda Michalak, Fernando Pontes & Anna Witkowska
November 28th 2015 through February 1st 2016

WM Gallery is delighted to present the photography exhibition “Distortions & Reflections” by photographers Wanda Michalak, Fernando Pontes and Anna Witkowska.  This will be the first exhibition in the newly refurbished and expanded WM Gallery.

On Saturday November 28th 2015, at 17:00 hrs, WM Gallery will have the pleasure to open the exhibition ‘Distortions & Reflections’ by photographers Wanda Michalak, Fernando Pontes and new-comer Anna Witkowska at Amsterdam’s WM Gallery. Distortions & Reflections combines different takes on how the reality around us appears altered, fractured and then reflected unto itself, visually, mnemonically and emotionally.
It should not be surprising that the central theme of this trio-exhibition is reality itself; that most illusory of concepts with which not only photographers continue to wrestle, but one that the rest of humanity interminably struggles with as well. Nonetheless, reality, and the way each one of us approaches it, is one which artists have attempted to deal with in an especially uncompromising manner.

(C) Wanda Michalak
(C) Wanda Michalak
At first glance Michalak’s, Pontes’ and Witkowska’s work seem to have very little in common. Michalak’s approach appears more light-footed, revelling with delight at the visual oscillations that water-drenched Amsterdam affords. Her – often-times aquatically reflected – distortions are more literally taken; Michalak seems to prefer a direct understanding of how reality is altered and reflected back unto itself. Yet this may be simply a façade. Her gaze turned downwards, appraising her immediate reality from water’s reflections, Michalak’s work implies as much melancholy as it does delight in the alteration of her surroundings. WM Gallery’s new discovery; Anna Witkowska’s staged photography on the other hand, attempts to reach the more painfully emotional levels of emptiness, isolation, loneliness, desire and ultimately, memory. Though seemingly static and perhaps even implying simplicity, Witkowska’s work always contains within itself a charged emotionality. Witkowska’s photography furthermore embodies an infusion of narrative within each and every photograph. This creates enigmatic mini-tableaus, whose silence and alienation urge the viewer to reflect upon him- or herself. Pontes’ series ‘6th December’ completes this triumvirate admirably; his is a series that shows a subjective impression of a specific time and place; namely; December 6th 2013. Not content with the illusion of objective documentation, he does what all three photographers do; presents subjective distortions to reflect upon reality, not as described, but as experienced.

 

Both Wanda Michalak and Anna Witkowska will be present at the opening of Distortions & Reflections on Saturday November 28th between 17:00 – 19:00 hrs.

About the Artists:

Wanda Michalak
Wanda Michalak (Warsaw 1952) finished her training as a professional photographer at Carrington Polytechnic Design School in Auckland, New Zealand in 1990. Since then, she has travelled, photographed and exhibited extensively. Her various series, including ‘Bonsoir Madame La Lune’, ‘Dialogues, Dialogues’, ‘Horizons’, ‘Living With Birds’, ‘Somewhere, Nowhere’ and, most famously, her ‘World Watching’ cycle have won wide critical acclaim.

Her work has been exhibited in Poland, The Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Portugal, Brazil, Bulgaria and Austria amongst many other places. Michalak’s work has been published in several albums, including Bonsoir Madame La Lune and World Watching I and World Watching II. Her work has been acquired and collected in public, private and corporate collections in Poland, The Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand and Australia.

Wanda Michalak is the founder and director of Gallery WM in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.


(C) Wanda Michalak

 

Fernando Pontes
was born in 1962 in Maceio, Brazil. In 1981 he began his artistic education at the Faculdade da Cidade and Pontificia Universidade Catolica of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In 1991 he studied “Light as Sculpture” at the New York Experimental Glass Workshop, NYC, USA, instructed by Chris Freeman. In 1995 he attended “Light Art Workshop” with the German artist Dieter Yung (from the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne, Germany) at the Goethe Institute, in Salvador, Brazil. In 1998 he resided in The Netherlands and attended the Amsterdams Centrum voor Fotografie. In 2000 Pontes presented his solo show “Obitjects” at the Gallery WM, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. In 2011 was the guest artist for the Universidade Federal de Alagoas art gallery where he held his solo exhibition “Passaros” (Birds), in Maceio, Brazil. In 2013, Pontes presented his performance “O Nada” (The Nothing) at the electronic art show “Paisagem Sonora”, curated by Claudio Manoel Duarte and Danillo Barata, in Cachoeira, Bahia, Brazil. In 2014 participated in the 3rd Biennial of Art of Bahia, curated by Ayrson Heraclito, in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.The visual artist Fernando Pontes registers photographically the urban light in various cities of Brazil. With a cell phone camera of low resolution, Pontes captures images while transiting through the city on foot or with public transport or even when he is dancing on top of a historic building. His poetics consist in translating urban landscapes in graphics, bright designs, abstracting them through his artistic action. Lights that roam free and dance through the cities implicate for a contemporary look that dance with them, and it shows us what our tired retinas already cannot see: everything is light. And dance.The six photographs in this show presented by the Gallery WM were taken on 6th December in 2013, in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil, where the artist lives and works.

(C) Fernando Pontes
(C) Fernando Pontes

(C) Fernando Pontes

 

Anna Witkowska (1976)

Photography is a way for me to shape my world of emotions and feelings, to organise everything: the past, present and future. I stage my characters in combination with a decor and use it to create visual stories about emptiness, isolation, loneliness, loss and longing. Through alienation and stillness an empty and intriguing world is created. A world full of excitement and emotion, where “light” subtly balances with “dark”, where a realistic world changes in a surreal world, where emotions, reality and magic meet. The characters often form a representation of myself, whereby memories and emotions blend together into a refined and aesthetic image. Each image is an extension of myself and my ideas and issues always arise from a personal experience, but at the same time my images remain universal and recognisable. My world is open to the viewer and offers the space for personal reflection and narration.

I originally graduated as a visual artist / ceramicist at the Academy of Fine Arts (ASP) in Wrocław (Poland) with a series of urns and light objects. In recent years I have been looking for other art forms to strengthen my voice and imagery as an artist. In 2010 my serious affair with the medium of photography started and I went to study at the Photo Academy in Amsterdam, where I will graduate next year. My passion and love for photography blossoms continuously with intervals of fascination and frustration. In November of this year, I have been invited along with Wanda Michalak and Fernando Pontes to take part in the exhibition “Distortions & Reflections” in the renovated space of the WM Gallery.

(C) Anna Witkowska
(C) Anna Witkowska

(C) Anna Witkowska
(C) Anna Witkowska
Anna Witkowska
Direct and life altering changes, unwelcome, unwanted but demanding our attention and feelings. Anna Witkowska has made this theme the motivation behind her work. Originally schooled in fine art ceramics, Anna used her talents and acquired skills to explore one of fascinating her subjects: loss of beloved ones. Ceramic urns, tall elegant and nearly Egyptian in their solidity of form and contour express the artist’s human need for consolation and closure.
Now, Witkowska has changed her focus from ceramics to photography. A finishing student at the Amsterdam Fotoacademie, Anna has dedicated her work to exploring the themes she discovered and first expressed in ceramics. However, as one would expect from a mature artist, she has developed new themes and approaches for the continued exploration of humanity’s darker aspects. Using the formality of portraiture, she explores from an adult perspective the sense of loss, isolation, and struggle for meaning that affect us all at some point in our lives. Her work, in this sense, is universal. The memories and emotions give her a pedigree for documenting the pain and sense of loss, grief and loneliness that afflict us all in the course of human existence. Her work features the personages, often herself or little girls, in isolated settings of fields, woods, beaches and decaying architecture where the viewer is witness to a deep psychological struggle conveyed in the small body size, the princess dresses and the darkness of northern Dutch skies. The beauty of Witkowska’s finished images is reminiscent of 17th century Dutch masters’ paintings with subdued tones, excruciating attention to detail and somber settings for portrait sitters. But her work is truly post-modern in that she does not attempt to resolve the tensions she creates, rather, she leaves room for the viewer to engage and resolve the images themselves.
Anna Witkowska (1976), born in Poland, lives and works in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

 

Photo’s from the opening, November 28th 2015, at 17:00 hrs

 

 

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