The incredulity of Saint Thomas: Limited by history

When the crack in the glass seemed unreal and a strong urge lead my hand to touch it, I cut myself. It was only then, the work became real. (From the Notes of Michal Martychowiec, 6/06/2015)

In the cycle of works The incredulity of Saint Thomas we always encounter the same overall arrangement with two variables: a painting and several broken insulating glass panes of various shapes and formats, composed across the entire room. The painting, entitled The incredulity of Saint Thomas: Limited by history, is the intended breaking point. It charges, one could say, the arrangement of the panes with meaning and gives them a further dimension of symbolic depth and focus. In this case we come across the postcard-sized reproduction of an art historical representation of Thomas by the Italian painter Il Guercino from 1621.

Martychowiec now elegantly couples the metaphorical dimension of the question of truth (touching the body of Christ) with the question of the concept and borders of art (since modernity). The distinction between seeing, touching, and believing, a fundamentally religious question, is being developed parallel to the question of belief in art and its borders.