Food Shoes

Is it possible to make shoes from food?

Artur Blusiewicz

October 22nd - November 12th

(curator: Aleksander Celusta)

The opening night for the exhibition Is it possible to make shoes from food? will take place on Saturday, October 22nd, 2016 at 7:00 pm at Henryk Gallery. The exhibition, prepared by Henryk Gallery, will be the first public showing of the artist’s work in Krakow.

The exhibition will feature a work of art bordering between multiple creative disciplines, including drawing, object, and installation. The artistic method is based on the juxtaposition of seemingly unrelated objects, which in a certain combination lose their autonomy to other entities. Nevertheless, a common vicinity enriches these objects, bestowing upon them new meaning and content. The space in which they have been placed largely influences their resonance and viewing.

“My intention is to create an installation composed of spatial objects. Each of its elements constitutes a distinct sign, is of a representative nature, and serves as an attempt to materialize certain concepts or ideas. My focus is the installation’s arrangement, which can evolve and is not subject to a concrete conceptual design. I presume that its individual elements could possibly undergo reshuffling or even change, depending on where they are showcased,” says Artur Blusiewicz, the exhibition’s author.

Among the inspirations that proved crucial in the creation of this exhibition, the artist points to a particular fondness for shop and artisan window displays. This reminiscence is reinforced by American photographer David Hlynsky, who traveled around communist-era Europe between the years 1986 and 1990. During this time, Hlynsky became fascinated by the image of shop window displays, to which he devoted a significant series of photographs.

The title of the exhibition itself refers to shop windows and dummy product displays - just four years prior to when Hlynsky shot his first photographs, Japanese designer Tokio Kumagai designed his first Shoes to eat (Taberu kutsu), reinforcing the tromp l’oeil technique that had been previously used by Elsa Schiaparelli in 1930s fashion. Using this technique, Kumagai used Japanese-produced plastic food to create shoes, mocking the fact that the Japanese seem to exhibit a love for dummy food almost to the same extent as to real food.

The temporary exhibition shall be accompanied by the official opening of the Henryk salon, a permanent exhibition space showcasing the works of all artists represented by the gallery.