Beneath the Surface of the Image
Exhibition Review
There are images that show reality, and there are those that allow us to glimpse its successive layers. Michał Smolak’s works belong decidedly to the latter category. What is recognisable appears only for a moment: the outline of a face, a fragment of a building, trees or a vaguely defined form are almost immediately obscured, broken apart or drawn into a dense structure of signs. Reality does not disappear as a result, but becomes uncertain, as though viewed through several overlapping filters.
At the heart of these works lies a tension between what is depicted and what eludes recognition. Recognisable traces exist alongside abstract arrangements of lines, patches of colour and geometric divisions. Some elements can still be named, while others remain merely shapes or rhythms. It is between these two realms that the true space of the image emerges, one that cannot be reduced either to representation or to pure abstraction.
The surface plays an important role. Repeated textures, abrasions, dots, streaks and translucent layers give the works an almost material quality. The image is not a smooth plane, but a place where something has happened and remains visible. Recognisable motifs appear sparingly. In one work, only the outline of a face remains; in others, trees, fragments of buildings, windows or urban structures can be discerned. Some traces overlap others, some forms emerge from beneath successive layers, while others almost completely disappear. Looking therefore becomes a process of revealing and losing the image at the same time.
Smolak also makes use of organic forms, undulating lines and arrangements suggestive of movement, flow or deformation. In some works they almost take over the entire surface, displacing the remnants of representation. In others they remain as a kind of second plane, through which recognisable elements can be seen emerging. As a result, the individual works do not so much present a single motif as record its successive transformations and deformations.
The colour palette is equally characteristic. Dark blues, greens, browns, violets and blacks predominate, interrupted by rusty hues, red and muted areas of white. Colour serves more than a purely aesthetic function. It creates depth, separates individual layers, intensifies the tensions between forms and shapes the atmosphere of each work. At times, a single lighter fragment is enough to draw the trace of an earlier image out from beneath the dark surface.
The titles of the works, such as “Asymmetry of Voices”, “Predator”, “Face cont.” and “Hesitate for the Second Time”, do not explain the image, but open up further possible associations. Image and title remain in a certain tension with one another: the title may suggest a direction, but does not close down its meaning. This is important because Smolak’s works do not require a single, definitive interpretation. Their strength lies precisely in allowing the gaze to wander between what can be recognised and what remains only a sense or intuition – both on the graphic plane and in the linguistic layer of the title.
The work of Michał Smolak can therefore be understood as a record of reality subjected to continuous displacement. Ultimately, it is impossible to say where representation ends and abstraction begins, where a recognisable trace remains and where there is nothing left but form. It is precisely within this uncertainty that Smolak’s images find their space.
Michał Smolak
Carried by Creation...
4–30 May 2026
Exhibition closing event: 29 May 2026, 17:00
Property of the Lublin Theater Therapy Foundation. All rights reserved.
Realized with financial support from the City of Lublin