Keke Vilabelda & Max Radawski: Common Ground

"Common Ground" is a meeting between two artists, Keke Vilabela and Max Radawski, who in an intriguing way give material form to images of a specific or remembered place.

The starting point are the paintings of Keke Vilabela (Spain, 1986), in which the artist explores the sense of remoteness and intimacy with the landscape. Vilabela juxtaposes two places, Spain and Australia, which are linked by the existence of pink lakes – peculiarities found in both hemispheres. His works are created by imitating natural processes such as sedimentation and evaporation. Individual layers of varnish, drying at intervals, crack or dilute the pigments on the canvases. Gravity also plays an important role, navigating streams of water which flow down the surfaces of the paintings. What appears at first glance to be an abstraction can become for the viewer a bird's eye view of a mysterious landscape.

The works of the young Poznań-based artist Max Radawski (1992) also transport the viewer to distant lands, evoking echoes of Eastern culture and philosophy. Radawski's work refers to the Japanese art of laying stones (Suiseki) and finding in them greater meanings and larger forms – views of mighty mountains. His works remind us that the relationship between man, object and nature is woven of moments of sharing and co-sensing space and time. Immersion is accompanied by sensory search, wandering around the recesses of memory, discovering the palimpsest layer by layer.

The Common Ground is a holistic experience, offering an opportunity to take a much needed breath. The search for the title common ground can bring solace, a moment of contemplation and, above all, sensual pleasure.