Archive exhibition

Magdalena Shummer-Fangor / ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MIRROR

Artist: Magdalena Shummer-Fangor

Venue: 101 Projekt Gallery, Piękna 62/64

Dates: 30.09 - 15.10.2016

The naive paintings of Magdalena Shummer-Fangor are not authentically naive because the artist is a university-educated art historian who has lived a cosmopolitan life in the company of an eminent abstractionist. It is merely a convention, chosen with an awareness of its purpose and message. And these paintings seem to result from a pure delight in the stunning beauty and richness of the world, full of shapes, colours, and a diversity of life forms, and from the artist's overwhelming desire to share this enthusiasm with others.

The conventions of naive art are especially suited to conveying the artist's joyful vision of the world. Many such conventions attributed to "naivety" are deliberately employed by the artist. One example is the absence of shadows; it is as if the artist has completely divorced darkness from her vision of the world, and perhaps turned her back on her own dark side? The lack of shadows lends a flatness to the scenes, in which the flattened figures have been imposed on an equally flat background. Another example is her treatment of light, which artists traditionally employ to express emotionality, creating mood and conveying the dynamic nature of their compositions. In the paintings of Magdalena Shummer-Fangor the light is distributed evenly and saturates the space. There is no clear source, and it is as if the light were emanating from inside the image itself. It enhances the vividness of the colours and their transparent purity, creating an impression of happiness, serenity and tranquility.

The work is filled with a multitude of small and precisely rendered details: leaves on trees, grass, an abundance of flowers, fruits, structures, animal fur, scales and feathers – all these details reveal the artist's acute sense of observation. A kind of horror vacui – a fear of empty space - informs the compositions, and gives a richness to the world she has created – this talent for acute observation is not something given to everyone. The works also reveal a reluctance to place a value on any one thing, seeing everything as important and worthy of our attention and admiration. This approach to the visible world seems almost like a statement of faith, or rather a sense of trust in the Creator: that everything which exists has been created, has its logical place in the order of the universe and its existence has a profound meaning. Although the human mind is incapable of truly comprehending this, it can sometimes be revealed by science or by the heightened intuition of the artist. Therefore her art, achieved through the methodical and meticulous attention to her craft, seems to be a kind of affirmative contemplation of Creation.

Content – poetic and colourfully metaphorical - plays an important role in her paintings. A disregard for perspective and actual proportions and a relative respect for local color help the artist to conform to the conventions of naive art, but also allow her a degree of freedom in composing a scene. Magdalena Shummer-Fangor tells her stories in her own language of form, but also refers to distant artistic associations: the pathos of "Girls with strawberries" on a background of red and pink roses, with objects that represent the familiarity of everyday life, or "Self-portrait" surrounded by cats , parrots and a flying stork - these seem to be cheerful and happy versions of the dramatic works of Frida Kahlo. On the other hand, "Magda Gesler," "Brothers," "Sisters" are masterly performances of balanced composition, utilising geometric rhythms and a sophisticated colour range. The moody "Lovers in a boat" are accompanied by a swan - the eternal symbol of kitsch. "Little Red Riding Hood," "The meeting with the crocodile," scenes from the biblical paradise, landscapes with animal staffage, and - the most attractive of all - "Noah's Ark". All these works display the illustrative nature of her art.

But the most important and the most valuable element is manifested in the artist's authentic fidelity to herself - in spite of a lifetime spent exploring the world of great art and the world itself. To nurture your inner child is said to be the only way to maintain a ceaseless curiosity in the world, a freshness of perception and a continued appreciation of its beauty - the art of Ms. Magdalena Shummer-Fangor is proof that she has succeeded in doing just this...

Stanisława Zacharko-Łagowska

PHOTO GALLERY

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