An Artist in the Temple… of Art

Abstract

This study is founded on research conducted since 2018 as part
of an artistic and academic project carried out at the Iconosphere
Research Laboratory at the Institute of Painting and Art Education
at the University of the National Education Commission in Kraków.
This text analyses works of art in which the painter is inspired
by, refers to, or is physically present in a sacred place or actual
or imagined sacred building, such as a cathedral, chapel, or
monastery. The selected works are easel paintings by artists
from the Krakow milieu: Romuald Oramus, Zbigniew Cebula and
Janusz Matuszewski, who represent different poetics. As all the
discussed series of paintings are ongoing, it is difficult to draw
final conclusions. The artists do not succumb to habituation
and still feel the need to react to repeated stimuli, whether in
the form of memories of important places or revisiting them.
Janusz Matuszewski’s work confirms that these places can facilitate
spiritual experiences. Furthermore, the artist prolongs the
state of ‘inhaling’ the sacred place experienced during his youth
while carrying out conservation work, recreating it in his carefully
arranged studio. However, most often we are dealing with
sacred places being treated as a source of motifs or a special
exhibition space. Oramus maintains an intellectual reflection
on the cathedral motif, which he absorbed over 20 years ago,
by making pilgrimages to successive sacred buildings. Cebula
delves into biblical and mythological stories and returns to real
and imagined places conducive to expressing his fascination
with terrain and architecture. This attitude can be referred to
as neo-romanticism.