Pav Szymanski — Contemporary Art Curator Magazine

May 5

May 5 Pav Szymanski

Biography

Short Bio Pav Szymanski MA (DISTINCTION), BPhil (Ed) (EXON), Cert Ed (EXON)
Painter
I am a fine art painter and video artist with 30 years of experience. My current research project is based on creating visual responses to my observations of people, who are suspended in the vacuum of hypnotic repetition. I have travelled the world interviewing and recording individuals, who genuinely struggle with their existence in the context of their survival. I have gathered substantial primary sources and evidence from destinations across the globe. Perhaps, the most significant research findings were from Haiti and Myanmar and resulted in the production of the most spectacular paintings. They have inspired me to develop new and innovative ways of working and experimenting with image-making, which are appropriate to the subject. They combine the best of traditional achievements and the power of contemporary thinking and deep reflection.
I work full time as a programme coordinator for Art & Design at a large institution offering a broad range of Further and Higher Education qualifications. I am also an external examiner for the University of The Arts, London and Academic Qualifications Alliance.

Artist Statement

Through my projects, I feel that I discover my inner fears, longings and re-evaluate my uncertainties. My work seems to be an attempt to explore and question by metaphorical presentation my response to the hidden truths of the world. The essence of the value of these works is in their inherent meaning and atmosphere, which manifests itself in the dusk of the space portrayed, thus the light may appear, where the hue of colour fulfils clarity and sounds with harmonious melody.

What first prompted you to think of becoming an artist?

My ‘A’ level education had a strong focus on biology, chemistry and science. However, deeply at heart, I had a passion for art, architecture and culture. I was the only student from my college to progress to study fine art painting. To be honest, I never considered other options! I was totally intrigued by people in distant countries and their lives and ideas. I was curious to get to know them more. Although I was absorbed by painting a metaphorical English landscape in the early 90s, my interests in exploring the human condition remained the strongest, most clear and continuing theme throughout all my art projects. A further MA course in Fine Art Digital allowed me to open my experimentation to new visual media experiences and include video work into my creative practice.

What kind of an artist do you ultimately see yourself?

As a consequence of my world travels, I have gathered a wealth of resources and unique observations of the dynamics of life across humanity. However, I was oblivious to a universal truth, which reveals a common link across nations, cultures and races. My initial research was concerned with the clarification of my creative intentions and beginning to understand the potential and value of my learning process. During reviewing my primary sources and research findings, I noticed reoccurring trends and characteristics across the different data. My focus began to be placed on investigating and questioning the concept on waiting for a change in hope for improvement. I recorded numerous people entrapped in poverty, who were suspended in the vacuum of detachment, frozen in bizarre inactivity without any chances for progress, development and achievement. ‘Waiting’ was a form of a coping mechanism, a form of dealing with the truth of their world as it really was. Experimentation with interrogating an amalgamation of painting with a running narrative followed. This possibility was further extended by looking at denial and considering the dimension of time, which was required in order to make things happen and earn the necessary monetary funds. My research findings confirmed that there is little certainty in life and the only constructive way forward is to persevere.Hypnotic repetition allows people to lose themselves in an opiate-trans like entrapment in daily routines and automated activities. This brain-numbing approach allows for hope to flourish and despair to depart. I am fascinated by looking at repetition in a variety of contexts and locations to triangulate data, increase the authenticity and reliability of my research findings and observations. I like to immerse myself in working with a range of characteristics of people across different cultures, who are subjected to surviving while being lost and oblivious to reality.

What are you hoping to communicate to the viewer through your work?

Perhaps, my creative intentions can be best articulated by my

‘Artist’s Statement:

Keywords:

Hypnotic repetition

Human condition

Uncertainty

Entrapment

People

Can you explain the process of creating your work?

I identify myself predominantly as a painter. My work has become sophisticated and evolved during a long period of exploration of media, materials and processes, always trying to discuss alternatives and extend the intellectual properties of my current debate and discussion. When working from primary sources, I try to depict the essence of my relationship with the character and the supporting narrative. The story of the person is of the greatest significance and it makes the piece. It closes the loop while contextualising my work. Gradually, I refine and modify my painting and focus on the element of entrapment in hypnotic repetition and suspension in a bizarre space in-between certainty and uncertainty. In addition to painting and using innovative mixed media techniques, I experiment with video pieces to record and alternate a violent act of blasting my paintings off with a powerful jet of water and the repainting process, always uncertain of unpredictability embedded in this method and never satisfied with early of superficial success and accidental effect. I force myself to persevere and become consistent in my approach. I have developed this idea further to a more extreme and aggressive stage by introducing machine interventions. I produced a range of video pieces with impact and potential for further consideration. Paradoxically, the outcome of this experimentation started to be more exciting than the original piece. It also tries to communicate my concept and creative intentions through the repetitive spinning of a washing machine without thought, further analysis to reflect the behaviour of the entrapped people through mimicking automated and unconscious actions.

What is your favourite part of the creative process?

The essence of my work is to try to depict a form of rapport with a particular person. All characters in my paintings are real. They exist and, despite their suspension in hypnotic repetition, they are subjected to the same dreams, ambitions, aspirations and desires as me. Every piece interrogates a bizarre yet symbiotic relationship between this original story, an authentic encounter between a person and I. This narrative is what makes my work special. Frequently, it has a purposefully confused and partially non-sequential timeline. The underpinning idea is to disorientate potential viewers and make them question the purpose of their existence through an interpretation of the meaning of my work. Hypnotic repetition has unique properties and enhances the overall feeling of absurd if life, its cyclic nature and a misleading Fata Morgana of safety and cosiness.

Can you give us an insight into current projects and inspiration, or what we can look forward to from you in the near future?

My project is on course to continue to develop and expand beyond the scope and time boundaries of the current stage. I have already planned for a trip to Madagascar and Ethiopia to gather more experiences to respond to and enhance my current understanding and interpretation of the leading research question. I will attempt to develop a further perspective on related issues and observations. My approach and explorations will remain open-ended and without the presumption of excitement and uncertainty of tomorrow. The world has suddenly become a much more complicated place. I am privileged to witness history in the making and would like to respond to the new dramatic developments covering all contexts of life, which are being confronted with so much death, pain and sadness. My ultimate goal is to prepare a larger number of paintings to reveal the consequence of the evolving emotional narrative in preparation for a large one-man exhibition.

Website https://hypnoticrepetition.com/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/pavszymanski/?hl=en