A New Star Born - Melusina or Mistaken Identity - Review of Julius Lewandowski Art
The myth of Melusina comes to mind when looking at the work of Julius Lewandowski "Mermaid".
In one of the versions of numerous myths about Melusina she appears as a maledicted princess, turned by the spell into a half serpent, half woman...
only on Saturdays.
Lost in the forest she is found by the young prince Raymond.
Enchanted by her unearthly beauty the prince falls in love with her and proposes.
Melusina agrees to become his wife on one condition: that one day of the week (Saturday, of course!) he would give her complete privacy and he wouldn't ever try to find out the reason.
The promised granted Melusina becomes Raymond's wife and bears his children.
Yet, a family mystery worries the prince enormously.
One day he follows Melusina to spy on her taking her bath to discover that his beautiful wife turns into a different creature on Saturday: from the waist down she wears a fish/serpent tail..
...
and he loses his wife.
The ambiguity of identity creates a crisis with a remarkable if tragic outcome to follow.
A sense of drama is ever present in the work of Juilius Lewandowski - an autodidact artist brought up on a Greek tragedy instead of habitual fairy tales.
The high and lows of whole human emotion specter is encompassed and taken to extremes: the bodies entwined and extorted, the hues of opposite colour: red and blue - splash on the canvas violently and yet arrange themselves into a harmony.
Some images strike with their over powerful sexual overtones only to be toned down by a vivid sense of artist's humour.
The series of works based on the myths of Roman Empire are masterly executed: both line and colour are working to create a potent narrative of visual excesses.
Extremes are turned into a grotesque, circus-like performance; artist's transcended images a la Toulouse Lautrec of today; life turned into a beautiful theatre of disguised identities and hidden passions: "We have a little secret", "You are my everything" - where everything is not what it seems and the appearances are deceptive or just "appearances-on-demand-of-society".
Euphemisms are not in the lexicon of the artist for whom a real identity and truth has been really very important issues for a long time.
A quest for truth led the artist to study ancient and modern philosophy in search for answers to vital life questions.
Having originated as a rebellion against the society hypocrisy, the controversial illustrations of Marquis de Sade books possess inherent satire and refined line drawing unwillingly parallels to the tradition for example Audrey Beardsley's illustrations of the illustrious and infamous Oscar Wilde's Salome.
Julius Lewandowski walks a thin line between notorious and publicly accepted creating beautiful works in a liminal space to explore new art and life identities.
By Jane Arte
In one of the versions of numerous myths about Melusina she appears as a maledicted princess, turned by the spell into a half serpent, half woman...
only on Saturdays.
Lost in the forest she is found by the young prince Raymond.
Enchanted by her unearthly beauty the prince falls in love with her and proposes.
Melusina agrees to become his wife on one condition: that one day of the week (Saturday, of course!) he would give her complete privacy and he wouldn't ever try to find out the reason.
The promised granted Melusina becomes Raymond's wife and bears his children.
Yet, a family mystery worries the prince enormously.
One day he follows Melusina to spy on her taking her bath to discover that his beautiful wife turns into a different creature on Saturday: from the waist down she wears a fish/serpent tail..
...
and he loses his wife.
The ambiguity of identity creates a crisis with a remarkable if tragic outcome to follow.
A sense of drama is ever present in the work of Juilius Lewandowski - an autodidact artist brought up on a Greek tragedy instead of habitual fairy tales.
The high and lows of whole human emotion specter is encompassed and taken to extremes: the bodies entwined and extorted, the hues of opposite colour: red and blue - splash on the canvas violently and yet arrange themselves into a harmony.
Some images strike with their over powerful sexual overtones only to be toned down by a vivid sense of artist's humour.
The series of works based on the myths of Roman Empire are masterly executed: both line and colour are working to create a potent narrative of visual excesses.
Extremes are turned into a grotesque, circus-like performance; artist's transcended images a la Toulouse Lautrec of today; life turned into a beautiful theatre of disguised identities and hidden passions: "We have a little secret", "You are my everything" - where everything is not what it seems and the appearances are deceptive or just "appearances-on-demand-of-society".
Euphemisms are not in the lexicon of the artist for whom a real identity and truth has been really very important issues for a long time.
A quest for truth led the artist to study ancient and modern philosophy in search for answers to vital life questions.
Having originated as a rebellion against the society hypocrisy, the controversial illustrations of Marquis de Sade books possess inherent satire and refined line drawing unwillingly parallels to the tradition for example Audrey Beardsley's illustrations of the illustrious and infamous Oscar Wilde's Salome.
Julius Lewandowski walks a thin line between notorious and publicly accepted creating beautiful works in a liminal space to explore new art and life identities.
By Jane Arte
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