Prompt: Above you have viewed the artwork of Andrzej Kramarz. What are your instant reactions to the series? What do these images represent to you? Choose one of the images and describe the life of the person who you think would own the objects displayed. Number your selection so that others can reference the piece you are writing about. The top image is one, second one is two and so on. After writing this initial reflection read the commentary below. After reading the perspective of the artist, does your opinion of the work change? Why or why not.
Rzeczy
(Things)
photographs by
Andrzej Kramarz
text by
Dariusz Czaja
The displays are arranged on the ground, on newspapers, cartons, strips of foil, and sheets of various colours. The objects are densely packed into the displays, lying one on top of the other, as if following the trends of horror vacui seen in folk art.
The items are for the most part old, obsolete, sometimes defunct, tacky, and of little worth, if any. Just some used and worn-out trash, desolate objects which look as if they've been pulled out of a dumpster and displayed only in pieces. In a word: that, which is left of a previous life; that, which used to live, now leads a life after life, sometimes an imagined existence. The lens of the photographer dives into this trivial space dimension with a definite fascination, and records with sensitivity these fragile remainders of daily life, searching for traces of their (non)existence.
There are so many different worlds, with every one having its unique and individual atmosphere: there is no point trying to resist the forces emanating from this junk store. Knives, blades, spoons, forks, tweezers, candlesticks and holders; a kettle, fruit bowl, decorative plate, a cleaver, machete, metal cross, stoup; a coffee grinder, an eyepiece, alarm clock; a wall-hanger, a padlock with a key stuck inside, weights, clothes brushes ... rubber dolls, medals, meat grinders, a seed extractor, clock faces and various glass panels, watch glasses; springs, mechanisms ... holy figures made of porcelain, mobile phone chargers; a children's' bike, a pipe, wooden angels, computer parts ...
And this is only a fragment of the archipelago of curious objects. When we start labelling them, we quickly notice that their names bear witness to a lesson of forgotten language (siphon, vinyl, stoup, mechanism...). This stocktaking which the photographer has recorded allows us to see the object at our leisure, without haste.
What reigns here is a world which has passed on: either not so long ago (communism) or a few decades earlier (the war, the inter war years) It does not really matter where we place the border, beyond which we speak of "the past", "antiquity", or use terms such as "out of date". What is important is that these items belong to a warm and tangible "today". After all it's not a CD: all these rubber dolls, corkscrews from the times of the People's Republic of Poland, relief carvings of "our" pope or Marshal Pilsudski, glass and crystal ware of varied authorship, all these things are emblematic of this world and the essence of its reality.
12 comments:
Kasen, Period 4
My first reactions to these photographs are that they are organized however also chaotic at the same time. My first thoughts upon viewing them are that they remind me of the I-Spy books I used to read as a kid. They also represent to me the people and cultures of differnt time periods like the last picture reminds me of wolrd war two era germany.
-After reading the prespectives of the artist my opinion doesn't really change as far as how I feel about it. I believe it is important to interpret an image on your own, in many ways I get more out of it if my original opinion is not influenced by the creaters prespective when written in words.
My instant reactions to this series are that all the items shown are being sold at a flea market or another place of that nature. These images to me represent a way to make money.
[2nd picture]
I think the life of this person is revolved around electronics. It could be very busy or very lonely depending on what the electronics are used for, keeping in touch with people or just to have something to keep him/her occupied.
After reading the perspective of the artist my opinion of the work doesn't change, it just makes me think more in depth about the objects and what they could have been their function.
Eli Groves
Just a glance at these photographs and I can smell, hear, and even taste the atmosphere of a flea market. Most of the flea markets I’ve passed through are generally the same, shaded tables piled with scattered sentimental items available for purchase. This is the first thing that comes to mind upon examining these images. The items spread along the table or ground in these photos seem so disorganized that they also almost seem arranged. I think this is what draws their attention.
The second to last image appeals to me the most, perhaps because it has the most variety of items. It is hard to tell what sort of person might posses such random pieces. I see a doll that might belong to a little girl. I also notice what looks like a sewing kit that might belong to an elderly woman. The items here are so different; they might not necessarily belong in the same room of a household. For example the toothbrush belongs in the bathroom, the book in the library, or the box of nails that you might on the workbench in the garage.
After reading the commentary to this series my initial thoughts begin to make more sense. The image I described is full of items from a household, items that have become “obsolete” or of “little worth.” They could have been collected, thrown out, and recollected by the photographer for the purpose of this shoot.
When I first saw the images starting with number one I thought of a crafts fare of some sort, that involves the selling of things that is not want or is needed to be sold by the table owner. I pictured sad or worried faces on each person that works at a table. I assume that these people don't have a paying job and need to make money somehow to provide for their families.
for the sixth image:
A story that comes to mind is that a middle aged women owns this table. She does not have a paying job of her own so any chance that she gets she sells any of her belongings that she is willing to give up. This women has a few children, young children. Their father works all the time so they do not see him much. he works at a factory that does not pay well so he needs to work all the time. most of the things on this women's table are either hand made objects by her mother (such as the doll), or given to her from a local linnen store where a close friend of her's works.
After reading the persepective of the artist, my opinion does change slightly. I probably would have never gone so in depth of what the items could have possibly meant. Now realizing this nature, I can have an educated opinion on any future references to this type of artwork.
above i forgot to leave my information.
Stephanie Latendresse
period 5
photo 5-6
8-31-09
My first reaction is of extreme randomness, and of someone who lives a very cluttered life and who keeps everything they find. To me these images represent my computer desk, because it's cluttered with paper, writing utensils, and other random objects. For the first photo I think the person who owns those objects would probably work with doors, chests, dressers, or anything else with old fashioned locks and keys, either making those objects or repairing them. After reding the commentary my opinion of the work doesn't really change, because from the beginning I had the impression of everything in the pictures being junk and things that are just no longer used.
Oliva Ottinger
Period 5
Photo 5-6
8/31/09
When I first saw image one, "foreign bazaar," began to scream in my head. Then as I read the description, it began to hit me that these may be priceless antiques, sentimentally or even financially.
I can imagine the people that would own these are those who are dedicated to a specific craft. Such as for number one, I can imagine a locksmith to own a vast amount of keys, whether they still work or not. For number two, I could imagine one who is involved with electronics, perhaps even cell phones. For the third image, I find that a blacksmith, or one who deals with metals would find the most value out of the objects.
My opinion on the work is changed, in that the way the artist took these pictures shows a lot of work and time spent.
At first everything appears as a chaotically organized collection. It would be as if someone was asked to pull out everything they own of a certain item, where things would be put into the pile out of the blue. Yet the items had to be placed perfectly, and the items were to be placed by ones of similar qualities. Someone has an odd collection on their hands. One can collect anything, but the junk items are clearly well taken care of due to the order of everything placing in the images.
The fourth image catches my eye among the rest. The striped background gives me the impression the items are collected by a family as appose to one person. The colors and pattern gives it a childlike characteristic, But some of the items do not give off the same impression. I can see the collection being items passed down through a family’s generation; the faces belonging maybe to a great grandmother, war items belonging to a father fighting in a past war.
I could imagine the items all giving off their own story, being passed down along with the item. The artist’s perspective seemed to open my mind about the images, helping me realize it is indeed useless junk, but junk that one-day will become absolute in our technological world.
When I see these images I see people trying to dispose of their random junk by selling it to other people. The images remind me of a flea market and of a very messy yard sale.
Photo One
I think the person who once owned this stuff was a locksmith. Most of the objects are keys and locks and they look like they belong to old dressers and chests . The left corner has spoons and forks which confuses me since it doesn't fit with the lock and key theme.
After reading the perspective of the artist my opinion on the work doesn't really change. It just makes me think more about the random objects.
Gustavo
Photo 3-4
Period 5
The first thing I thought of was how did this person get all of this stuff but once I started observing them i realized that it is like a collage and i really enjoyed it. I also respected the artist for the amount of time they took on this.
None of the pictures stood out to me mostly because they all looked the same but thats in a good way. The same theme seems to be troughout the series and I enjoyed that part of it.
Brett Burke
period 5
photo 5-6
My instant reactions to the pictures are "wow, there looks like theres a lot going on in such a small space. This images represent to me, sloppiness, something i have a lot of. I like the picture with the tools (5). i think that person might be very good with putting things together. My opinion doesnt change about the image.
my first reaction was pictures of people at work. like all the equipment they need. like differnt time periods or diferent cultures.
i chose number 1. to me it looked like it was a lock smith from the early 1900s. he would be making sure that he had everything he needed to put anotherlock on the door and the right key for it.
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