The Krasnals: The Krasnals participation in "I could live in Africa" MoMA Warsaw and Rotterdam’s Witte de With

August 9, 2010

The Krasnals participation in "I could live in Africa" MoMA Warsaw and Rotterdam’s Witte de With

The Krasnals participating in the group exhibition:
"I could live in Africa"
Witte de With CCA, Rotterdam
February 20, 2010 - April 25, 2010

and
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw
July 24 - September 19, 2010
Curated by Michał Wolinski, in collaboration with Nicolaus Schafhausen and Anne-Claire Schmitz

The exhibition offers a compelling image of the Polish art scene of the 1980s as a constellation of collectives and practices that emerged throughout the decade, propelled by the ever stronger grip of the authorities on publishing, recording and information circulation.
All of The Krasnals paintings selected for "I could live in Africa" exhibition were created as the part of the project "Revolutions not for cretins" ( http://revolution-thekrasnals.blogspot.com/ ) and are the youngest art generation tribute to that period of Polish history.

Joanna Mytkowska, the director of Warsaw MoMa speaks about The Krasnals paintings:
"Perhaps the lack of pathos, not emphasizes the uniqueness of the time, but they were able to capture the spirit of freedom and rebellion, which is also part of that history. It is understandable to Western audiences and for the younger generation."

The Krasnals. Whielki Krasnal "Joanna Mytkowska - 'I could live in Africa' – but here in Poland I get more Money, than bananas in Africa. / Monkey with white banana – from the series Animal Planet, Great Poles and Great Dictators." 2010. Oil on canvas. 55 x 46 cm

Whielki Krasnal “Untitled (Group of Monkeys with White Bananas)” . 2004. Oil on canvas. 50 x 50 cm
This painting became the sympol of art market and art corporation criticism.
Auction house Christie’s estimated this piece at 50-70,000 GBP. The work is refering to the painting of Wilhelm Sasnal “Untitled (Group of Monkeys with White Margins)”. The provocation of The Krasnals uncovered the art market mechanisms and ridiculous schematic thinking of art professionals.
Monkeys and bananas are not really so exotic. They function perfectly in all periods of time. Of course both in 80-s as well as today in contemporary art world era.

The Krasnals: Object 1,2,3,4 "Stampede / The world withoud wars". 2008. Oil, spray on canvas. 70 x 100 cm

The Krasnals: Object 1 "But we wanted to fuck a corpse." 2008. Oil on canvas. 54 x 65 cm

Object 2 "Freedom!" 2008. Oil on canvas. 70 x 100 cm

The Krasnals: Object 1 "Long live the ball! / Fight for soft pricks / Mikhail Gorbachev / from the series 'circus on wheels' and 'Great Poles'." 2008. Oil on canvas. 60 x 90 cm

The Krasnals: Object 1,2,3,4 "Fight for soft pricks / from the series' Circus on wheels' / the series' World without wars '." 2008. Art object participating in performance.