Laura Pawela | Krzysztof Skarbek: portretwłasny.pl

The depth of field of this exhibition extends from the mid-1980s to 2004: from Krzysztof Skarbek’s first paintings to Laura Pawela’s latest ones. To a considerable extent, its scope coincides with the lifespan of the Third Polish Republic. It is a portrait-exhibition, portrait.pl, a portrait in the interior of the Third Polish Republic, a portrait from before and after the passing years. Personally, I would very much like to reverse the order. I would like Pawela to be older and Skarbek younger; I would like us to have been realists then and euphoric utopians now. I would like time to flow in the opposite direction. When I look at Skarbek’s Sailing Down Our Street and Pawela’s Can’t go to real world, which are, after all, about the same thing, I feel that the wheel of time is once again turning the wrong way—from the Golden through the Silver and Bronze Ages, all the way to the unpleasant present. I hope that when it begins to rise again towards the Golden Age, I will not be too old to go boarding.pl.