The exhibition Czterdzieści i cztery (Forty and Four) is conceived as an unconventional take on the traditional review show.

The exhibition premieres new works by Uklański – including a monumental textile installation Untitled (Open Wide), 2012, and a photographic series entitled Pornalikes, 2002-12, – as well as Untitled (Polska Über Alles), 2012, a new installation that mixes together iconic elements of his work, such as Dance Floor and The Nazis. This deliberately eclectic mix of works is presented through immersive installations and mise-en-scènes that convey the artist’s aesthetic vision rooted in the tradition of the Gesamtkunstwerk. For example, Uklański has transformed one of Zacheta’s pristine neoclassical galleries into a womb-like environment made from suspended, discharge-dyed fabrics. This “tie-dye cave” will serve as the scenography for the display of a suite of Uklański’s paintings and photographs, including pencil-shaving paintings, ceramic mosaics, resin paintings and other examples of Uklański’s metapainting practice.

As this wide-ranging selection of works illustrates, Uklański is an aesthetic polymath – his practice resists categorization in a single medium. He switches among media promiscuously, from one project or subject to the next, moving from photography to sculpture, installation to performance and painting to filmmaking.
Likewise, the conceptual foundations of Uklański’s practice vacillate between opposing forces and meanings. If there is a central theme that characterizes his work, it is the porous border that separates the generic from the beautiful, the transgressive from the banal. Uklański dares to conflate pleasure and criticism in the same work – a heretical gesture that in most art-world circles is considered more inflammatory than his frequently controversial subject matter – see, for example, The Nazis, Pornalikes, Untitled (GingerAss). This subversive conflation often renders the “critical” or political function of Uklański’s work suspect for many art historians and critics, as well as for the general public. But the critical meaning of Uklański’s work lies precisely in the ambiguous, unstable messages that emanate from such conceptual tension.

The exhibition’s title, “Czterdzieści i cztery” (Forty and four) makes reference to a famous prophecy in the literary work of Adam Mickiewicz, a nineteenth-century romantic poet and playwright who is Poland’s most celebrated literary figure. In his iconic play, The Forefathers’ Eve, Mickiewicz’s protagonist, a priest named Piotr, has a vision of Poland’s suffering in which he draws an analogy between the nation’s struggle with invading empires and the Passion of Christ. Piotr foresees that Poland will have a redeemer who will appear to save it, and he proclaims that the redeemer’s name will be “Forty and Four.” Mickiewicz’s famous characterization of Poland as the “Christ of Nations” is a powerful image that remains an essential part of Poland’s national identity to this day. And “forty and four” also announces the age that Uklański will turn on his next birthday, which will occur during the course of the exhibition – an intentionally self-indulgent reference that also nods to the conventions of the midcareer artist’s review exhibition and to midlife crisis.

Piotr Uklański was born in Warsaw in 1968. He studied at the Warsaw Academy of the Fine Arts. In the years, 1989/90 he was a participant in Mark Konieczny’s guest studio, and continued his studies on an independent basis with Zbigniew Warpechowski, Krzysztof Zarębski and Paweł Freisler. He also studied photography at the Cooper Union School for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York. He lives and works in New York and Warsaw.

Piotr Uklański’s exhibitions include: Polish Neo-avantgarde (Carlson Gallery, London 2012), 75th Annual Pułaski Parade, (New York, 2012), Piotr (Massimo De Carlo, Milan, 2011), Discharge! (Gagosian Gallery, New York, 2011), 2010 Whitney Biennial (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 2010), When Things Cast No Shadow (5th Biennale for Contemporary Art, Berlin, 2008), Biało-czerwona (Gagosian Gallery, New York, 2008), Joy of Photography (Musées de la ville de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, 2007), A Retrospective (Vienna Secession, 2007), Summer Love (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 2007), Shapes of Space (Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2007), Summer Love (63 Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica di Venezia, Venice, 2006), Where Are We Going? (Palazzo Grassi, Venice, 2006), Territorio
Livere (26 São Paulo Biennale, São Paulo, 2004), Piotr Uklański (Kunsthalle Basel, 2004), Dreams and Conflicts: The Viewer’s Dictatorship (50th International Art Exhibition, Venice, 2003), Project 72 (MoMA, New York, 2000), Greater New York (P.S.1, New York, 2000), The Nazis (KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, 2000), The Nazis (Zachęta Narodowa Galeria Sztuki, Warsaw, 2000), Manifesta 2 (Casino Luxemburg – Forum d’Art contemporain, Luxemburg, 1998), Life as It Should Be (Galeria Grodzka, Lublin, 1995).

Piotr Uklański’s works are to be found in the collections of such institutions as: Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, Museum of Modern Art, New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim, New York, Tate Modern, London, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Museum of Modern Art, Chicago, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich and the François Pinault Foundation.