TM Lighting has collaborated for the second year with UAL: University of the Arts London Made in Arts London to present their annual exhibition launching the ‘2019 Collection’. The exhibition showcases art and design from over 30 UAL students, and throughout the duration we will be providing Artist Spotlights to find out more about the artists and their work.
- Full Name: Jarek Kubacki
- UAL College: Chelsea College of Art
- Course: Fine Art
- Graduation Year: 2021
Can you tell us a bit about the main themes and ideas behind your work?
The key processes for this work is scratching off the paint and creating creases in the fabric, painting it, then letting it dry, and stretching it flat. This creates ‘memories’ or traces of actions, becoming the works’ theme.
Can you tell us how the pieces from the collection came about?
Inspiration for all my work comes from the everyday, the everyday life, outside of the art. Work culture, commuter culture and contemporary lifestyle culture has a big impact on my work. The reflective fabric I work with comes from safety gear – workwear/cycling/running clothing, and recently has started appearing in fashion as well. The material fascinates me, because of its philosophical implications.
Which artists inspire you or have had some influence on your work?
I have always been looking back to 60s and the Minimalist movement. Early works of Richard Serra and Larry Bell, as well as all works of Robert Irwin are very important to me. That is where the ground work has been done in the field I’m interested in. There are others who work today synthesising the past in the way I appreciate. Miroslaw Balka and Adriano Amaral come to mind.
What feelings or response do you hope viewers will gain from seeing your work in the exhibition?
Mine is the process of making. My hopes don’t go beyond my own practice.
What inspires you particularly about the medium you currently work in?
Retro-reflect – to reflect back onto its own source. Light that reflects off the surface of the painting travels back to where it comes from, blinding itself. Our experience is always incomplete, and always subjective. We often say we ‘reflect’ on something, when we look at an object, we don’t see the object as it is. We rather project our thoughts onto it, which is then ‘reflected’ back to us as the object we look at. Nothing exists in the same way it does in our psyche. Old sages and quantum physicists both agree the world is shaped by our thoughts. This is the process I capture.