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Boys Don’t Cry. 2007

Jet ink and acrylic paint on paper and canvas

24” x 30” (61 cm x 76.2 cm)

The traumatic years after the 9.11 , and prolonged military conflict helped me to return to work influenced by surrealism and expressionism. Both movements were created in the beginning of the last century in Europe during the years of heightened anxiety not unlike our times.

My work includes a revolt against the underlying movements that lead up to the war, nationalism, logic and rationalism, and the artificial state of normalcy.

I was always interested in surrealism. It was my starting point and main reference. It was only a natural thing to focus on unconscious and the Other. The early surrealists were not only primitivist, but also fetishists. They embraced fetishism for its disruptive potential. For them, the Other was close enough to appropriate the differences and become one with it.

The theoretical foundation was also informed by the Hegelianism of the Other and by the work of Jacques Lacan. In his most famous seminar he defines the traumatic as a missed encounter with the Real.

My work involves the suspension of reality and creation of estranged objects. I employed a form of illusionism, which uncovers the Real in uncanny objects and situations. These objects are often put into performance. It also includes a deliberate regression to the paranoid-schizoid position, which brings the splitting and fragmentation.

Maciej Toporowicz is a multimedia-artist based in New York City.

His work refers to surrealism, and his inventive imagery makes the ordinary extraordinary.

His work has been exhibited in renown galleries and museums such as The Jewish Museum, P.S.1 Museum, Museo D’Arte Moderna, Lombard Freid Gallery, Galeria Camargo Vilaca and others.

His images were published in many periodicals including Black Book, Nylon, Creative Review, Archive, Artforum, Art in America and Flash Art.

Other projects:

Main page: HOME

Performance, 1981 - 1987.http://web.mac.com/maciejtoporowicz/iWeb/performance/one.html

Shadow Scuptures, 1991. http://web.mac.com/maciejtoporowicz/iWeb/shadow/sculpture1.html

Obsession, 1993. http://web.mac.com/maciejtoporowicz/iWeb/obsession/eins.html

Serial Killers, 1993. http://web.mac.com/maciejtoporowicz/iWeb/SerialKillers/Killers1.html

Disney.1993. http://web.mac.com/maciejtoporowicz/iWeb/Disney/Mickey1.html

Love Will Tear Us Apart, 1995. http://web.mac.com/maciejtoporowicz/iWeb/Love/one.html

Baby Gap, 1996. http://web.mac.com/maciejtoporowicz/iWeb/BabyGap/first.html

Lure, 1995. http://web.mac.com/maciejtoporowicz/iWeb/Lure/1.html

Multiples. 1994- 2004