What distinguishes this series, developed since 1983, is the use of a characteristic mark: a pair of overlapping pointed shapes, resembling boomerangs whose implied motions advance in opposite directions.

The aggressive symbolism as well as the raw texture, reminiscent of organic matter, correlate with the inflammatory atmosphere of decisive moments in history: the artist worked on this series during the years preceding the opening of the Iron Curtain, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the USSR, and the resulting political transformation in Central and Eastern European countries.

Dealing with abstract ideographs, however, New “New” Revolution goes beyond the artistic attempt to harness political and social change, for at least two different interpretations are conceivable.

Firstly, the series is an ironic response to the demand of popular culture for attractively designed signs and emblems, which are not entirely free from ideological features (e.g. Oh… oh…, 1988), and secondly — in view of how the philosophy of art evolved — it comments on the debasement of progress and novelty as the core values of the avant-garde.

Written by Krzysztof Siatka