Bownik
b. 1977, Poland
Lives and works in Poland
Disassembly 10, 2012
Bownik is a contemporary artist who works with the analog medium of an 8x10-inch camera. Trained as a photographer, he has developed a distinctive practice that blends documentation with intervention. His work involves disassembling and reassembling objects, spaces, and kinetic forms, using large-format photography, sculpture, and performance, to explore themes of representation, memory, and power.
A central aspect of Bownik’s practice is his interrogation of the conventions of imaging and representation. Over time, his work has evolved to critically examine the shifting dynamics between youth, cultural transformation, and the reconstruction of values in contemporary society. His pieces delve into how these transformations impact daily life and how collective memory is shaped by both historical and cultural forces. Drawing upon visual conventions from diverse sources such as classical painting, police archives, and historical culture, Bownik explores the relationship between power, experience, and representation, blurring the lines between authenticity and artifice.
The tension between permanence and impermanence is a key element of Bownik’s work. He plays with the idea of disassembly and assembly, questioning how objects and forms exist within and outside of time. His use of photography in large formats adds a sense of weight and permanence to subjects that are often fleeting or ephemeral. Through his manipulation of objects and spaces, Bownik reveals the fragile nature of memory and history, inviting viewers to reflect on the precariousness of representation and the ever-changing nature of truth.
Bownik’s works have been exhibited in numerous collective exhibitions, such as Lucim żyje (Lucim Lives), alongside Marcelina Gunia, at the Centre of Contemporary Art in Toruń (2009), and As You Can See: Polish Art Today at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw (2014). His solo exhibitions include The Urn for the National Library at the Rzeczpospolita Palace (2014), and Crystal up to the Neck at Foksal Gallery in Warsaw (2014/2015). His artist book, Disassembly, published by Mundin, was awarded the Grand Prix in the 2014 Photographic Publication of the Year competition and was nominated for the Kassel Photobook Award 2014.
Bownik’s works are included in several public collections, including those of the Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the National Library in Warsaw. Other institutions such as the Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź, the National Museum in Poznań, the MWW Wrocław Contemporary Museum, and the Museum of Photography in Kraków have also acquired his works. His pieces are also held in private collections, including those of the ASOM Collection in Vaduz, the Museum voor Fotografie Huis Marseille and the ING Art Collection in the Netherlands, and the Sammlung Bergmeier in Germany.
The tension between permanence and impermanence is a key element of Bownik’s work. He plays with the idea of disassembly and assembly, questioning how objects and forms exist within and outside of time. His use of photography in large formats adds a sense of weight and permanence to subjects that are often fleeting or ephemeral. Through his manipulation of objects and spaces, Bownik reveals the fragile nature of memory and history, inviting viewers to reflect on the precariousness of representation and the ever-changing nature of truth.
Bownik’s works have been exhibited in numerous collective exhibitions, such as Lucim żyje (Lucim Lives), alongside Marcelina Gunia, at the Centre of Contemporary Art in Toruń (2009), and As You Can See: Polish Art Today at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw (2014). His solo exhibitions include The Urn for the National Library at the Rzeczpospolita Palace (2014), and Crystal up to the Neck at Foksal Gallery in Warsaw (2014/2015). His artist book, Disassembly, published by Mundin, was awarded the Grand Prix in the 2014 Photographic Publication of the Year competition and was nominated for the Kassel Photobook Award 2014.
Bownik’s works are included in several public collections, including those of the Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the National Library in Warsaw. Other institutions such as the Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź, the National Museum in Poznań, the MWW Wrocław Contemporary Museum, and the Museum of Photography in Kraków have also acquired his works. His pieces are also held in private collections, including those of the ASOM Collection in Vaduz, the Museum voor Fotografie Huis Marseille and the ING Art Collection in the Netherlands, and the Sammlung Bergmeier in Germany.
Featured Works
Disassembly 16
Disassembly 25
Disassembly 2
Disassembly 5
Circle 4
Circle 9
Selected Exhibitions
Apr 27 – Jul 23, 2023
Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź
Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź
Reverse
Jun 23 – Jul 31, 2018
Poznań, Poland
Poznań, Poland
Press
Selected Publications
BOWNIK: Undercoat, 2022
In his monumental photographs, taken with a large-format analogue camera, Paweł Bownik examines “artificiality” in photography. Drawing inspiration from the classic iconography of historical still lifes, and genre painting, as well as the aesthetics of 1940s American cinema, he questions historical norms of representation. Carefully dissecting the elementary components of his subjects, his work is driven by his attention to minutiae. Flowers are disassembled, only to be surgically reconstructed – without hiding their artificiality. Alternatively, he challenges the historical narratives symbolized by traditional costumes. Turning them inside-out introduces the possibility of a different reading: In their reversed state, the intricate embroideries not only reveal their materiality, but also speak of their socio-historical context. Undercoat encompasses Bownik's work from the past decade, informed by the artist’s awareness of the underlying patterns that give form to our surroundings and how we perceive them.
Warsaw-based artist PAWEŁ BOWNIK (b.1977) studied philosophy and sociology in Lublin, as well as photography and multimedia at the Poznań Academy of Fine Arts. His work has been exhibited in numerous group shows in Poland and beyond.
Hardcover
Language: English
Details: 248 pages
Size: 191 × 247 × 25 mm
ISBN 9783775752503
The artworks comprising the series Colours of Lost Time were created by layering illustrations and photographs of extinct bird species onto a rotating disc, which the artist then set in motion and photographed. The colours of the circles that emerge from this procedure blend gradually, marking their repeated revolutions. This sui generis record of motion and the passage of time is simultaneously a chronicle of mourning. “In Bownik’s vision, the bold, saturated colours of avian plumage dissolve and coalesce into a spinning spectrogram. Extinct species are brought to life in the form of an inscrutable, shadow-casting spectrum. The birds/spectres no longer bear names of their own, just as our dictionaries lack the words to describe the myriad colours of lost time,” Grażyna Bastek writes in the text accompanying the exhibition. In his commentary to one of the pieces reprinted in the album, Bownik revisits the event that precedes the moment of naming: “Abstract and accelerated dying out has become reality. What is the colour of loss?” he writes, adding: “I imagine everyday life in which, on odd days, all the news stations on the blue planet talk about death for 24 hours — but only about death caused by human civilization and its consequences for the world.” The album of Bownik’s artworks comprises 35 pieces from the Colours of Lost Time series, an essay by the art historian Grażyna Bastek, and a commentary by the artist himself. Bownik worked on the series from 2017 to 2019, and first presented the works at WGW in 2019.
Embossed linen hardcover
Language: English and Polish
Details: 68 pages
Size: 29 × 24 cm
Design and typesetting: Magda Burdzyńska
First edition published by Bownik Studio, 2021
Language: English and Polish
Details: 68 pages
Size: 29 × 24 cm
Design and typesetting: Magda Burdzyńska
First edition published by Bownik Studio, 2021
Disassembly, 2013
Bownik’s “Disassembly” is an artist’s book in which a photographic project has been brought to the form of a non-standard picture album. The main role here is played by flowers, which the authors disassembles into parts using DIY tools and then reassembles in possibly unchanged form. For this purposes he uses glues, adhesive tapes, ropes, precisely measuring the distances between the leaves, noting them in pencil on the leaves themselves and photographing them. The resulting images, informed by the still-life tradition, perfectly imitate and evoke that which has been subjected to a destructive process. Hypnotizing the viewer with their deformed charm, they also create an uncomfortable sense of participating in a strange experiment. Beginning with the cover image and progressing through a series of collages and drawings, the book’s narrative culminates in the middle part and comes to a conclusion with a series of sketches.
Bownik’s “Disassembly” is an artist’s book in which a photographic project has been brought to the form of a non-standard picture album. The main role here is played by flowers, which the authors disassembles into parts using DIY tools and then reassembles in possibly unchanged form. For this purposes he uses glues, adhesive tapes, ropes, precisely measuring the distances between the leaves, noting them in pencil on the leaves themselves and photographing them. The resulting images, informed by the still-life tradition, perfectly imitate and evoke that which has been subjected to a destructive process. Hypnotizing the viewer with their deformed charm, they also create an uncomfortable sense of participating in a strange experiment. Beginning with the cover image and progressing through a series of collages and drawings, the book’s narrative culminates in the middle part and comes to a conclusion with a series of sketches.
The book comprises 120 pages of collages, drawings and photographs of over 20 flower species. Printed on two kinds of paper, bound in subtly embossed hardcover, is it a one-of-a-kind publication where every typographic and binding detail matters. Book also includes a booklet with an essay by Andrew Berardini and a conversation with Bownik. The collector’s edition is cloth-bound and includes a signed drawing, one of the several dozen reproduced in the book, and comes in an elegant, custom-made box bound in dark-green cloth. The collector’s edition is limited to 30 signed copies, in English language version only.
Hardcover
Language: English and Polish
Details: 120 pages
Size: 240 × 305 mm
Design and typesetting: Honza Zamojski
First edition published by Mundin, 2013
Hardcover
Language: English and Polish
Details: 120 pages
Size: 240 × 305 mm
Design and typesetting: Honza Zamojski
First edition published by Mundin, 2013