SELF-PORTRAIT

Who wrote our faces? It seems that we often ask ourselves the question (consciously or not) by repeating the words of Mr. Cogito (a character created by Zbigniew Herbert, a Polish poet and essayist) in front of the mirror. Our faces aren’t designed, but can be surgically altered so as to keep up with the desirable trends or canons of beauty. And even though our countenance is not the subject, and we ourselves are not the product, day by day we are haunted by the process of self-commodification. The “Self-Portrait” is part of the complex project called FIGNACY&co., in which the artist becomes the company, the brand, the reproduced face, and his work turns into an offer: a set of products on the supermarket shelf.

Filip Ignatowicz (PL), born 1990 in Gdansk. Graduated in Painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk (class of prof. Henryk Cześnik, Witosław Czerwonka, and Robert Florczak). He is interested in visual arts. When studying the boundaries of art and product, he is constantly examining consumer culture behaviors. Over the five years of studies, he participated in about 70 exhibitions (in Poland and abroad, among others in Argentina, Canada, Italy and Lithuania), and won more than 35 awards and distinctions in art competitions. He is the laureate of the Best Student Award of the Pomorskie Voivodeship in 2013 and the winner of the Audience Award during Best Diplomas 2014 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk. Grant-holder of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.