Exhibition title Karina Marusińska’s “Seriously?” says a lot, but not everything, about the work of this talented, unpretentious designer and graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław.
At the exhibition in the gallery of the International Ceramics Centre, the artist showed works that break with the conventional approach to ceramic art. Her presentation is intriguing and fresh. There are no monumental, hackneyed references. Instead, there is plenty of playfulness, as in the work depicting porcelain bobblehead dogs.
The artist elevates the tacky decoration from the 1970s and 1980s, placed behind the rear window of every “maluch,” Polski Fiat or Trabant. She casts the dogs in fine porcelain. They are just as cuddly, sweet and naïve, but precious, like Meissen tableware.
A good design idea is presented by simple cups decorated with patterns that closely resemble traditional Bolesławiec stamps. On closer inspection, it becomes clear that the stamps are made from @ symbols—commonly called “monkeys.” This has a double meaning: on the one hand, the artist has mimicked the idea of the stamps; on the other, she has given the work a deeper, contemporary, electronic subtext.
A work one cannot pass by indifferently is a cup with hair, which she placed between the saucer and the cup. The hair resembles either pubic hair peeking shyly out from a bikini or hair found in food and drinks. However one looks at it, the hairy cup provokes profound disgust—which is precisely what the artist intended.
Karina Marusińska works in both design and artistic creation. She is a member of the artistic group łuhuu! and the Wzorowo design group. She also collaborates with independent artists. Her exhibition will be open until 11 August 2011.
(information: Grażyna Hanaf)