The idea to use scratched materials dates back to 1977, when trials with soft etching paper were made.

Soon after, a series of monochromatic works titled Scratch Screens was produced, highlighting mutilations of the monumental screens’ spongy surface. The scratches on a single-colour plane, resulting from the use of a garden fork in a swinging gesture, became an allusive mark (e.g. Scratch Pyramid, 1982).

The emphasis laid on the application of a highly specific tool, which in drastic circumstances could be wielded as a weapon, inscribes the structure of the object with traces of how it came into existence—as well as agitates for reusage.

Written by Krzysztof Siatka