Trafostacja Sztuki, 2020 / Gdańsk City Gallery, 2021

odbitki kserograficzne, farba witrażowa, zeszyt A4,
zrealizowane w Gościnnej Pracowni Leona Tarasewicza na Akademii Sztuk Pięknych w Warszawie 2000 r.

solo exhibition Blood and Sugar. Works 2000–2021, Trafostacja Sztuki in Szczecin, 2020, and Gdańsk City Gallery, 2021

photos: Andrzej Golc and Agnieszka Piasecka

This classical ancient theme in the exhibition is complemented by a notebook from Burska’s student days and slides reproduced from it showing white Greek sculptures from the classical period, splashed with red paint. This staining of red touches on the beginning of the “white lie” of ancient Greek architecture and sculpture, while also pointing to the hypocrisy underlying Western civilization. The stereotypical “stateliness” of ancient temples and the phantasm of a hallowed past are incompatible with the violent, controlling function of religion – determining all of life, creating divisions in social roles, and demanding tribute or sacrifice.
The buildings and sculptures of the time were covered with motley colours and frescoes. The most famous “wonders” of Phidias were his haughty, glittering chryselephantine statues. Ancient sculpture-decorated altars streamed with the sweat and blood of weary sheep and oxen, which were pulled up the altar’s steep slope in the heat during the Panathenaia festival to be slaughtered at the hands of the priests. The white was not white as blood flowed onto the marble floors and spilled down the white staircases. Western culture has literally grown out of sacrifice and violence. The sublime tragedy of fate is combined with cruel torments.

excerpt from the text Blood and Sugar by Stanisław Ruksza, catalogue Blood and Sugar. Works 2000–2021, published by Gdańsk City Gallery, Trafostacja Sztuki in Szczecin, and the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk, 2021