Interior Lives

RIBOT is pleased to present Interior Lives, the first solo exhibition in Italy by Przemek Pyszczek (Bialystok, 1985, lives and works in Drzeniów, PL). The exhibition comprises a selection of works created for the occasion that challenge the genre boundaries between sculpture and painting, leading to new formal solutions echoing architectural elements, as well as aspects of nature and the cosmos. Born in Poland and raised in Canada, the artist in his practice refers to reworked iconographic elements specific to his homeland, where, since the early 2000s, he has taken several journeys to discover the post-Soviet evolution of the territorial realities. The attraction and curiosity towards these urban landscapes, close but unknown, has driven Pyszczek to the invention of an unprecedented and identity-based visual alphabet that gives life to paintings and sculptures that become a kind of “landscape of memory.” An operation far from being nostalgic, rather born from a concrete desire to reconstruct an experienced reality never before experienced. In the canvases framed with metal structures that superimpose geometric motifs on the acrylic-painted background and in the wall sculptures, one can find elements characteristic of Polish cities such as the bright colors of the facades of prefabricated buildings, the typical gratings usually placed on the windows, but also the multicolored rides of the many playgrounds mass-produced during the years of urbanization, in order to offer gathering spaces for children. However, in this Milan project and particularly in the brand new paintings on display, one can grasp a further opening toward an inner world, as well as a reflection on the concept and mystery of creation, to which even the title chosen for the exhibition refers. Behind the metallic greek frets, which animate and constitute the paintings, one can glimpse abstract motifs that break the ordered geometries of the previous compositions and open up to an almost galactic and celestial dimension, where straight lines give way to swirling and poetic movements that seem to be the projection of a dream, a unique and unrepeatable act similar to an aurora borealis. These works stand as thresholds, windows between inside and outside that suggest a dual point of view: that of an observer looking at the world from an ideal standardized communist-era apartment and that of the one who from outside observes and imagines life unfolding within its walls. For the occasion Pyszczek has also created a special project in ten different pieces. Small freestanding or wall-mounted sculptures that echo the formal solutions of larger plastic creations and contribute to populating an abstract landscape that is both individual and collective at the same time. Przemek Pyszczek (Bialystok, 1985, lives and works in Drzeniów, PL). He studied Architecture at University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, 2007. His solo and group exhibitions have been held in: Galeria Campeche, Mexico City, 2022; Fierman Gallery, New York, 2022; Galeria Arsenal, Bialystok, 2022; Villa Merkel, Esslingen am Neckar, 2022; Leto Gallery, Warsaw, 2022, 2019; Galerie Derouillon, Paris, 2021, 2019, 2018, 2017; Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, 2021; RIBOT gallery, Milan, 2020; Biennale Zielona Góra, Zielona, Góra, 2020; Galerie Belenius, Stockholm, 2019, 2015; Bienal de Coimbra, Coimbra, 2019; Plug In ICA, Winnipeg, 2018, 2017; Tatjana Pieters, Ghent, 2018; Haus Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin, 2018; PS120, Berlin, 2018; Gr_und, Berlin, 2018; Museo Archeologico e d’Arte della Maremma, Grosseto, 2018; Kwadrat, Berlin, 2017; Galerie Tobias Naehring, Leipzig, 2017; Kinman Gallery, London, 2017; Sexauer Gallery, Berlin, 2017; Galeria Casado Santapau, Madrid, 2017; Belenius, Stockholm, 2016; Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, 2016; Calvert 22, London, 2016; NGBK, Berlin, 2016; Nymphius Projekte, Berlin, 2016; Berhold Pott, Colonia, 2015; Spritmuseum, Stockholm, 2015; Peres Projects, Berlin, 2015; Office baroque, Brussels, 2015; Other Projects/Ashley, Berlin, 2015; Open Forum, Berlin, 2014; Galeria Nicodim, Bucharest, 2014; Kino International Kunst, Berlino, 2014; Florian Christopher, Zürich, 2013. Residences and prizes include: Coast Contemporary, Oslo, 2021; Art Omi-Ghent, 2021; Allegro Prize, 2021; Dr. Eva Kahan Arts Residence Program, San Sano, 2019; Sobey Art Award, Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, Winnipeg, 2018.