Blich

Blich is the name of an old part of Krzywcza where Karol Palczak lives. The terms blich, blech, and Bleiche refer to a historical method of bleaching linen by laying it out in the sun on meadows near a river. This connection to the landscape and the natural character of the area leaves a strong mark on Palczak’s painting.

In his newest body of work, the artist replaces canvas with white marble. He continues his earlier experiments with painting surfaces, in which he used zinc sheet metal and aluminum — all in an effort to draw out an inner light from the image.

Before being painted, the works were carefully staged. Dead eels, a fallow deer rib, and beet soup mixed with starch to imitate blood served as props in this mise-en-scène. Two scenes were arranged from this material in two different locations: one on the frozen surface of the San River, the other in a garage — on a slab of marble. Short films and photographic series created during the process became an important stage in the making of these works. Sequential, frame-like shots are characteristic of this cycle.

The resulting paintings are unsettling and dramatic. The materiality of the objects gathered against the stone-white marble creates a surreal effect. Carrion, eels, blood. The seductive realism of the painterly technique contrasts with depictions of repulsive remains and smeared blood.

As the artist explains:
 “For me, these are somewhat abstract compositions based on living matter — the blood and bodies of eels and ice…”

References to classical still-life motifs resonate with subconscious fears, memory, and a sense of brutal yet undefined events rooted in the contemporary imagination.