CUMULATIONS – post-painterly artworks

Jan Astner – CUMULATIONS  – post-painterly artworks

The CUMULATIONS in Jan Astner’s post-painterly artworks symbolizes an evolution in the area of ​​central values. We see the free assimilation of oval graphic elements to present the idea of social relations. 

Post-painterly artworks reject the mysticism of abstract expressionism and any residual references to the outside world. It is a purely factual art that functions more in terms of basic elements of the medium itself; form, color, texture, form and so on. The style of CUMULATIONS is based on bright colors, clear and open compositions. abstraction as Post-painterly style is typically linear in design, bright in colour, devoid of detail and incident. 

Series of artworks

CUMULATIONS is a series of  post-painterly artworks by Jan Astner. According to the author, only a series allows for a real message, a transmission of his ideas and thoughts. To discuss the topic with the recipient. This is not a literal message, it cannot be in the formula chosen by the artist, but a thorough analysis of the notion of relationship from the perspective of symbolic interactionism, done by creating multi-level structures and in varying degrees of interdependence. 

As an individual and creator, Astner stands in front of the viewer, showing his reception of interpersonal relations, and the oval is a perfect medium for stimulating his imagination. Mapping social relations in a painting is unique. In this context, the social theme of CUMULATIONS is an indisputable advantage.

In the CUMULATIONS post-painterly artworks, thanks to the inclusion of social relations in the abstract formula and through the prism of the social actor’s consciousness, the artist moves from presenting the relationships of individual elements to entire systems, surprises with a wealth of colorful and formal symbols. This makes these post-painterly artworks visually intriguing and socially unique. Astner does this instinctively, trusting, and rightly so, his artistic intuition, thanks to which he obtains plastic ambiguity.

Oval as a symbol

In his post-painterly artworks Jan Astnter’s choice was simple form: oval. It does not stand for an unequivocal interpretation that is simple in its transmission and reception. Quite the opposite: underlying this choice of form is a dramatic visual and social metaphor. It is an abstract language, a language of form, color, multilayeredness, which communicates to the recipient its view of society. 

This is a completely different perspective than simply perceiving the real representation of the world. We define abstraction as non-figurative art. Art is neither objective nor representative. Abstract art represents the artist’s conscious departure from reality. Thanks to this, it releases the hidden creative energy of painters. It gives them the freedom to explore emotions in a way impossible to achieve in traditional art styles. The abstract is an expression that connects the artist’s feelings with the viewer of his works.