Everything about the contemporary is panda
by
Michal Martychowiec
Year
2017
Size
75 x 100 cm
Material
Chromogenic print
Edition
1 of 3
Price
on request
Everything about the contemporary is panda
The panda has become a significant symbolic element in Martychowiec’s narrative since 2016. This project utilises various symbols with emphasis on the panda which functions on several levels and throughout many different areas of human activity: politics, culture, conservation, ecology and then again as a sort of idol.
The panda also symbolises the contemporary man, following Ortega y Gasset: ‘a satisfied little man’.
The panda is the most reappearing element, as it follows modes of existence of the spectator and most importantly pivotal moments of art history, whereas the other elements become interwoven comments on contemporary human conditions. This project is in a very direct discourse to two other bodies of work: The incredulity of St Thomas (where Thomas becomes a somewhat symbol of the spectator) and Josephine (where the rabbit Josephine becomes an existential symbol in opposition to the panda).
The mentioned actors of the projects represent these different modes of existence and they are meant to be understood as symbols. The two symbols operated with in this project are:
- The panda. A degenerated creature (we want to keep the good times even though they are gone) – following Robert Lifton and Ortega y Gasset.
- Marcel Duchamp. A 20th-century artist and professional chess player.
This project is about the interconnection between belief (faith) and freedom. The readymade, the choice of the frame made by the artist, and since recently also the spectator, are ideas (in a platonic structural sense) one can reflect upon.
This cycle of photographs consists of stills from a film which has never been made (or as it might be read by history - has been lost). One statement of the artist is mixed with statements from historic artists: Marcel Duchamp, Bethan Huws, Kazimir Malevich, Francisco Goya... The stuffed panda from the museum functions as symbols of death, or failure (of preserving its own species, of being preserved as a work of art, of the meaning of artists’ words being preserved...).
Other works of art by Michal Martychowiec
Name All is history
Size 25 x 75 cm
Year 2012

Name Blue#1
Size 175 x 220 cm
Year 2013
Name Blue#5
Size 175 x 220 cm
Year 2016

Name What remains the poets provide
Size 130 x 100 cm
Year 2018

Name Everything about the contemporary is panda
Size 75 x 100 cm
Year 2016
Name Everything about the contemporary is panda
Size 75 x 100 cm
Year 2016
Name Everything about the contemporary is panda
Size 75 x 100 cm
Year 2016
Name Josephine 2017 (Blue)
Size 60 x 50 cm
Year 2017

Name Josephine 2018 (Red)
Size 60 x 50 cm
Year 2017

Name Josephine 2019 (Green)
Size 60 x 50 cm
Year 2017
