Demo I

Manifa I (2010) was created by Szczecin-based painter Przemysław Cerebież-Tarabicki (born in 1954). In 1994, Tarabicki established the Trystero Gallery and ran it until 2012. There, he organised a number of events and projects promoting contemporary art. One of Trystero's initiatives was the SMS (Szczecin-Melbourne-Szczecin) exhibition, organised in 2009-2010 in Australia and Poland respectively. Manifa I was painted for the Szczecin edition of the exhibition, held in the National Museum in Szczecin in 2010. In the context of Tarabicki's painting oeuvre, Manifa I stands out due to its monumental format, which the artist used rather sparingly since the late 1990s, preferring smaller, more intimate paintings. It is also an interesting example of combining painting with the possibilities offered by modern digital printing techniques, documenting the technological experiments conducted by the artist at the time. Manifa I is also a realistic self-portrait, which is rare in Tarabicki's work. While the format, technique and motif distinguish the painting from the remainder of the artist's oeuvre, the manner in which the image is composed with geometric shapes and introducing the human figure into such a framework is one of the most characteristic features of his painting. In Manifa I Tarabicki refers to the abstract language of geometry and the image of his own body to showcase a universal experience – the suspension of human existence between life and death, as well as about personal experience. By portraying himself in a jester hat with a paintbrush in his hand, he intriguingly poses a question about the sense of art and the status of an artist.

Magdalena Lewoc