Collection

A chocolate bar, a coconut, a plate of soup, an apple core—all huge, filling the surface of the canvas. Paintings depicting food are usually regarded as still lifes, but in Kręcicki’s case they should rather be called portraits—of vegetables, fruits, and other everyday grocery items. The artist forces us to examine essentially mundane objects with heightened attention. In his paintings even a humble potato may convey cosmic weight, as the black splotches on the skin of the tuber form the shape of the Big Dipper constellation. The monumental spud emerging from the dark background suggests a boulder—a memorial to the silent hero of the world’s cuisine.

Painter. A graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, Tomasz Kręcicki draws from various painting conventions, from realism to graphic, nearly abstract compositions. His paintings, brilliant and analytical, are at the same time simple and jocular. He often paints ordinary domestic objects and simple activities of daily life, but with a predilection for toying with scale (of the canvas and the items depicted). Since 2016, he, Karolina Jabłońska and Cyryl Polaczek have made up the artistic collective and gallery Potencja. Together they organize exhibitions, shoot films (for which they also create the screenplay and music), and publish the art zine Łałok. Kręcicki won third prize at the 42^nd Bielsko Autumn Painting Biennial in 2015. He lives and works in Kraków.