"Zbigniew Libera: Correcting Devices, 1994-2000"
2002-03-20 until 2002-04-27
American - European Fine Art and Priska C. Juschka Fine Art
New York, NY, USA United States of America

Zbigniew Libera, a Polish artist of international renown, provides a spectrum of works inspired by French philosopher Michel Foucault, whose theory revolves around education and human body and devices used in the western culture with the intention of exercise and to shape behavioral patterns indispensable in the proper functioning of an individual. Libera‚s works refer also to commercial colloquialism as well as social behavioral patterns ˆ also the ones modeled by media and advertising.

Curiosity shop or house of horrors - Neither. The ideological, concrete and psychic world that Zbigniew Libera consistently refers to is our own. Libera, as a Pole and as a European, has devised elegant aesthetic shorthand for the ideo-religio-philosophical admixture in his artworks. Indeed, his unique vision of our world is directly influenced by his experience of a more brute ideology in the form of Polish Martial Law.

Many of the objects created by Libera at first appear much like those that already exist in the form of mass-production commodities or as machines similar to those used in fitness clubs or beauty salons. Libera‚s signature style is one of mimicry and uncanniness; each of his works is scrupulously crafted to take on the formal characteristics of the mass-produced objects, which inform them. These works reference and reflect the foundation of commercial advertising. Among Libera‚s well known series of Correcting Devices are: Ke's Aunt, Placebo, Universal Penis Expander, Body Master, You Can Shave the Baby, A Different Type of Prison, photographs related to the critically acclaimed Lego 96. The year 2000 marks the end of a major series of Correcting Devices. (Andrew Boardman)

Toys are generally educational, and it‚s this aspect that fascinates me the most. With toys you can influence the children. My toys are mainly targeted at adults, of course, at the people who make the toys that introduce children to the world. To put it in another way, toys are not Œreal things‚. But they are not gadgets either; they retain some functional potential, but their function is modified with the respect to the real objects. Through toys we can observe how our own perception changes according to the function of the toy itself. (Zbigniew Libera in a conversation with Adam Szymczyk)

IMAGE:
A different type of prison...
Portfolio of 11 photographs
Color C-prints
29.7 x 20 cm, 11 5/8 x 7 7/8
2000

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