Zbigniew Libera at Guy McIntyre - Brief Article

This was the first of recent origin York exhibition for Zbigniew Libera, a prominent Polish artist whose lower parts go back to the "unofficial" art spectacle of the 1980s. Here Libera neared four versions of what purport to be mass-produced consumer items of precisely the emblem that have been flooding into Poland since the extreme point of socialism. While mimicking the glitz and colorful appeal of shrilly marketed serviceables Libera's peculiar products are spermed with caustic humor, philosophical allusions and a biting social critique.

Although its packaging leads you to wait for that Eroica (1998) is a station of toy soldiers, it actually consists of tiny alloy of copper female nudes in various poses of duress that suggest they are captives or the civilian victims of a war. "Collect Them All," you read upon the boxes--an idea which strike one as beings at once blithe and perverted for you'd be essentially collecting images of suffering encod with historical memories of war, oppression and perhaps concentration camps. Libera is useful at subverting the enticing direct the eye and intentions of marketing techniques. For example, upon the boxes you see pictures of the and zinc figures illuminated in pools of light from upon high, rendering them a cros between members of a shrieking grecian chorus and frantic escapees tracked by dint of prison searchlights. Libera's works can sometimes be hilarious. sum of two units perfectly scaled, child-size versions of exercise machines, material substance Master--Play Set for Children beneath 9 (1994-98), replete with small plastic pulley miniature weights and little seats, are an absurd send-up of workout mania and its attempt to self-engineer the body

In The Doll You regard with affection to Undress (1998), packaged baby dolls are displayed in a rank on the wall with their stomachs splayed make open to reveal interior organs. Here Libera strives too hard to shock; the work is basically a one-liner and its impact doesn't last. More effective is Placebo Suppositories (1995) Several dozen small cartons, ostensibly containing suppositories shaped like miniature bomb are stacked pyramidlike upon a table in a way that conflates drug-store displays with geometric Minimalism reminiscent of Sol LeWitt's works. Libera has a sharp organ of sight for absurdities, but this piece is also a weirdly and wonderfully concise jab at the repetition consumerist mentality of shopping-addled agricultures In the face of this pervasive "authority," Libera, who exhausted time in prison during Poland's period of martial law, retains a crackling anti-authoritarian streak.

COPYRIGHT 1999 Brant Publications, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group