Robert ZYTYNSKI - Course of life, October 2008
                                                      

                                
“Course of Life”is a series of paintings by Robert Zytynski. His first London solo exhibition displays atypical golf players portraits on large scale linen canvas.
The French-Polish born artist is a magician who uses his brushes to depict a world full of intelligent insights on humanity.
His portraits show the angel and devil side of human beings, disguised under well known costumes:
A Pierrot, a Pope, a Dandy, a Farmer, all of them holding their golf club and hitting the ball in a very personal way, following their Course of Life.
Zytynski’s paintings won’t leave you indifferent: they question you, they disturb and they fascinate by their energetic brush strokes and striking palette of colours.
The show is a celebration of painting as a fine art.
With this exhibition Zytynski hits the ball far and he is at the top of his game.

   Abracadabra. The ball is hit. Our destiny is decided. You have just been hit by a magician, called Robert Żytyński.
Born in Poland, moved to Paris 20 years ago, Żytyński is concentrated energy. You can grasp the wittiness of the character through his amazing clear blue eyes thatcould pierce your soul.
But Żytyński prefers to use his brushes to depict a world full of profound thoughts about the human condition. For him, painting is a springboard, a bridge that takes a reality and its images to transform their meaning onto canvas.
Course of life is a series of portraits on linen canvas. They depict atypical golf players, like a Pope, a Farmer, or a Pierrot using their golf club as an instrument or messenger that gives direction to their life.

Portraits are one of Żytyński ’s favourite subject matter.
Portraying his characters, for Żytyński, is like a journey of discovery. We cross life and we meet people on our way, we see faces, gestures and they all make an imprint on us. Choosing golf is an alibi to illustrate a more philosophical point of view on human condition : in a way we all hold in our hands our destiny like we hold a specific golf club in a game. Żytyński uses this metaphor by portraying bold characters. He is interested in looking for human traits especially behind a costume. The choice of quite obvious costumes is important to the painter because it helps to build the complicity with the viewer as well as a humoristic dimension in his paintings. It is also a cheeky way to disguise his thoughts on religion and social codes in general.
For instance the golf club is a stick that embodies many meanings. The position of each character ready to hit the ball can convey our different attitudes in life : the ones who want to hit the ball far, the ones who are concentrating on putting the ball right into the hole or the ones who are holding it in their hands wishing their life would be something else !
The golf etiquette and set of rules is also a way to tell us about the social rules of people who play the game. We are all part of a social group with our specific habits and codes and it is not always easy to penetrate or change from one group to another. The painting showing a Pope using his club to decide on the poor destiny in a little frog brings a feeling of discomfort as well as the question of destiny.
All his characters question ourselves on the place we have in an unfamiliar environment, in a world where we do not know the codes. What do we look like and how do we feel ?
This is one of the major concerns and questions Żytyński deals in his paintings :
Can we really get through people behind their social signs and manners ? In this amazing series of portraits, we can see the good and the bad in each character. They are Angel and Devil. For instance the Pope holding a book that looks more like a porn magazine than the Bible seems to be telling us that behind his red robe he has the same fantasies as other human beings. Is it really bad or is it acceptable ?
The viewer is here to decide, Żytyński throws the dice like his characters throw their golf ball and nobody really knows where it will land. The picture asks the questions, the answers are up to the viewer.
Coming from Poland, Religion is an important matter to Żytyński. He likes the idea that Popes represent a "multiple repetition" of the same History. Who are they really ? Does their religious function change their personalities ? How different are they
from any other human beings ?
There is also a lot of sensuality in his painting as well as some sexual connotation. Love, sex and human traits are his territory per excellence.

The painting of the Blue Angel using his golf club to throw love in a box illustrates
Żytyński’s duality with life. In love we find our softness, weapons become gift from the
heart.

          

With Course of Life, we navigate through Żytyński’s paintings like in dreams and nightmares.
Each of them brings up questions to our mind.
Żytyński’s work is driven by his life and often has biographical references. Course of life series
of paintings shows that his life is taking a new path, opening to a new world.
 With this first London show, he demonstrates that he is at the top of his game.


 Marine Gueguen-Strage.