Krzysztof Jung w środku świata

Abstract

GRZEGORZ PIOTROWSKI (University of Gdansk) / Krzysztof Jung in the middle of the world
Krzysztof Jung (1951–1998), a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, was a painter, draughtsman and performer, inventor of “plastic theatre” and precursor of Polish gay art. His original legacy, using characteristic threads and the naked body in performances and installations, had a unique dimension in Polish art: autobiographical, intimate and at the same time political. Whereas in his drawings and paintings created throughout his life – which in the 1980s were influenced by his contacts with the Parisian “Kultura” (Culture) – the artist developed the theme of portrait and landscape, especially the male nude, of which he was a master. In the text, the author discusses the exhibition of Jung’s works (mostly presented for the first time) “In the Middle of the World” at Gunia Nowik Gallery in Warsaw (December 2021 – January 2022). He highlights their links with the great traditions of art, while pointing to the original and subversive potential of Jung’s peculiar Gesamtkunstwerk being an aesthetic and existential project.