Revolutionary Artists

The series Revolutionary Artists presents portraits of the reverse sides of paintings from the International Collection of Modern Art at Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź—one of the oldest museums of modern art in the world. Formed in the late 1920s and early 1930s by the avant-garde “a.r.” group, the collection emerged through acts of artistic solidarity, as leading figures such as Fernand Léger, Max Ernst, Hans Arp, and Kurt Schwitters donated works to a shared institutional vision. Conceived as a transnational project, the collection embodied the cooperative ethos of the European avant-garde and marked a foundational moment in the public presentation of modern art.

Rather than depicting the canonical frontality of these works, the series turns them around. Dramatically lit against a dark ground, the backs of the paintings reveal traces of their circulation—labels, stamps, and inscriptions that map their movement across exhibitions and political contexts. These surfaces bear witness to the works’ status as gifts, their trajectories shaped by networks of exchange, ideology, and cultural diplomacy.

Across the surfaces, moths and insects introduce a slow process of decay and transformation. Recalling the tradition of vanitas, their presence underscores the instability of cultural value and the mutation of political memory; evoking the symbolic power of cultural capital.