the dystopia of an imitation

We kindly invite you to the solo exhibition “The Dystopia of an Imitation” by Jarosław Solecki. His virtual installation created in 3D was inspired by the paintings of Johannes Vermeeer.


Curatorship of the exhibition: dr Justyna Gorzkowicz

Opening 27 May 2022 (from 6pm)

The Dystopia of an Imitation


Curatorial note by Gorzkowicz and Solecki:
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The artist reaches for a new tool. He makes a scan in 3D technology. A white ceramic mug with blue patterns spilling coffee. The coffee is light beige – whitened with milk. The everydayness of a ready-made object.
The shapes are deformed, but the mug is still a bit Dutch. It imitates the ceramic decorations of that region. Along with its scan, another imitation has appeared in the world, this time digital.
One could end here.
However, the virtual materialisation of the real object escapes into deformation. The process of artistic imitation becomes dystopian, and nevertheless spawns inspiration. The resulting work obscures the real object. From now on, the artist will use the scan of the mug like a piece of clay.
The Dutch-like mug shifts in time and space. And the shift is so major that there is no question of mimicry. In its place appears conceptualism and …Netherlands Baroque.
“The Milkmaid” by Johannes Vermeer. Or rather one object from the painting, but so tangible and meaningful. The pitcher pouring milk.
The dystopia of imitation comes to life in a new dimension and in a new work.
To paraphrase Ovid, describing Pygmalion’s impressions when confronted with the statute he had sculpted: “it resembled the real object so much that one would think it was alive and wanted to move. To this extent art has managed to hide art”.


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During the opening there will be a launch of the artist’s booklet “The Dystopia of an Imitation” describing the creative process behind his conceptual and digital works.
In the video essay opening the exhibition, Solecki’s book will be introduced by its reviewer, Professor Aleksandra Lukaszewicz (Academy of Art in Szczecin). The artist himself will talk about the exhibition and invite you to visit it.
Q&A with the artist will be available via email (info@bluepointart.uk) or messenger.
Both the theoretical work presented and the exhibition to which it refers were developed as part of the Developing Your Creative Practice (DYCP), Arts Council England grant programme (DYCP-00349467-R8), London 2021

Video essay about the project will be available on our channel from May 27 2022

Click to watch us on YouTube

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Booklet is available to download in PDF format in full from the online repository (link below)

Solecki, Jaroslaw, & Gorzkowicz, Justyna (ed.). (2022). The Dystopia of an Imitation. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6633680

An abridged version of the booklet in catalogue form is also available on the ISSUU website


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About artist
Jarosław (Jarek) Solecki, England-based artist, a graduate of the University of Arts in Poznań (Poland), Arts Council England artistic grant awards. He is currently a research fellow at the Institute of European Culture at the Polish University Abroad in London (PUNO), concerned with the anthropology of visuality and new media. He is a member of the British Association for Slavonic & East European Studies (BASEES).
The main focus of his artistic activity are: sculpture; performing art in public space; socially engaged art [social exclusion]; a virtual environment; possibilities of combining new technologies and art with visual communication in public space. He was also a participant in the art and research project TICASS: Imaging technologies in communication, art and social sciences (Horizon 2020 EU no 734602). His latest project is the virtual Blue Point Art Gallery London, as part of combining new technologies with art.


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Event supported by Embassy of the Republic of Poland in London and The Polonia Aid Foundation Trust (PAFT). Media Patron: Radio Wnet

The Blue Point Art Gallery (a virtual 3D gallery), was built in a digital environment as part of a collaboration between the Contemporary Literary and Artistic Culture Unit of the Institute of European Culture at the Polish University Abroad (PUNO) and the Culture Lab Foundation. Although the gallery was created in response to the changes resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic (March-July 2020), its founders have continued this work, with the intention of transferring part of their activities to the digital world. The current pandemic made us aware of the fragility of social structures and the deep need not only to seek unconventional solutions, but also to implement them quickly. 

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