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拍品專文
“I’ve always been interested in genres that are unpopular – in film, art, or otherwise – and that exist or even thrive under the radar, without a wide audience. And I think my work reflects this interest.”
PIOTR UKLÁNSKI(Piotr Uklánski in D. Everitt Howe, “Q+A: Piotr Uklánski’s Crafted Conceits,” Art in America, February 18, 2011).
The best-known work by Polish artist Piotr Uklanski, the Nazis, presents 41 abutting film stills of actors portraying Nazis in films. The film stills, which are from European or American films such as Peckinpah’s Cross of Iron (1977) and Spielberg’s Schindler’s List (1993) are identically sized images that depict close-up views of the actors’ head and shoulders. This close cropping highlights the Nazi regalia featured on the actor’s military uniforms—swatistikas and imperial eagles—bringing these symbols associated with evil and persecution into sharp focus. In displaying these works abutting side by side, Uklanski recalls a film reel, an endless stream of aggressive, evil characters that inspire discomfort and uneasiness.
A commentary on how historical events and characters are portrayed in film and popular culture, the present lot has sparked controversy when exhibited. Protests occurred when the work was exhibited at the Photographers Gallery in London in 1998. When the work was exhibited in 2000 in Warsaw, Poland Polish actor Daniel Olbrychski took a sword to his likeness to protest the use of his image in the work.
The present lot encourages viewers to examine the power that costumes and uniforms have on the public consciousness. While the men depicted in the work are actors, merely playing characters, the very strong and real reactions and emotions that viewers experience when confronted with symbols and regalia of these Nazi uniform costumes underscores the importance that representation and symbols play in popular culture.
The Nazis is an extremely important work in Uklanski’s oeuvre that forces the viewer to examine media representations of historical evil.
PIOTR UKLÁNSKI(Piotr Uklánski in D. Everitt Howe, “Q+A: Piotr Uklánski’s Crafted Conceits,” Art in America, February 18, 2011).
The best-known work by Polish artist Piotr Uklanski, the Nazis, presents 41 abutting film stills of actors portraying Nazis in films. The film stills, which are from European or American films such as Peckinpah’s Cross of Iron (1977) and Spielberg’s Schindler’s List (1993) are identically sized images that depict close-up views of the actors’ head and shoulders. This close cropping highlights the Nazi regalia featured on the actor’s military uniforms—swatistikas and imperial eagles—bringing these symbols associated with evil and persecution into sharp focus. In displaying these works abutting side by side, Uklanski recalls a film reel, an endless stream of aggressive, evil characters that inspire discomfort and uneasiness.
A commentary on how historical events and characters are portrayed in film and popular culture, the present lot has sparked controversy when exhibited. Protests occurred when the work was exhibited at the Photographers Gallery in London in 1998. When the work was exhibited in 2000 in Warsaw, Poland Polish actor Daniel Olbrychski took a sword to his likeness to protest the use of his image in the work.
The present lot encourages viewers to examine the power that costumes and uniforms have on the public consciousness. While the men depicted in the work are actors, merely playing characters, the very strong and real reactions and emotions that viewers experience when confronted with symbols and regalia of these Nazi uniform costumes underscores the importance that representation and symbols play in popular culture.
The Nazis is an extremely important work in Uklanski’s oeuvre that forces the viewer to examine media representations of historical evil.