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Almine Rech

Rudolf Polanszky Chimera

Oct 24 — Dec 21, 2019 | Brussels
Inquire about the exhibition: inquiries@alminerech.com

Rudolf Polanszky

The Art of Overcoming: The Unthinkable in the Thinkable 

Traces of Memory between the Fragment and Totality  
Polanszky sees his treatment of materials that in our economic system are usually seen as cheap, damaged goods from the hardware store as a refinement. His works thus seem like a parody of “refined” materials, while at the same time the formerly utilitarian materials are now free of use. The artist literally frees them from their previously intended relations of constraint and use. Polanszky thus seeks a value-free resistance to the adaptive. The artist creates assemblages in both a pictorial and a sculptural format that always bear the traces of the past of the materials used. The traces of everyday life, use, and wear and tear always link Polanszky’s works to the history of the object-like materials used that he transforms into something new, a “pseudo-geometric arrangement,”[1]  and that reflects the aesthetics of use. In the process, he transforms traces of histories into a new field of association and a new construction of meaning for these apparently artistically worthless materials. The creation of nature remains in the form of its traces, for example the leaves or other natural materials that are seemingly integrated by chance, lending the works a rather coincidental character. They also represent a contrast to the synthetic materials like Plexiglas, Styrofoam, foils, or foam rubber that form the main ingredients of Polanszky’s art.
[...]
In Polanszky’s works, the past always survives in the now as a trace of memory. Both in his assemblages, that attest to the lasting quality of endurance with the maintenance of weathered surfaces and broken materials and maintain the memory of how things once were, as well as in his sculptures and spaces in which the traces of the past are never deleted, but always preserved. Duration is preserved by Polanszky to continue memory and individual consciousness and to preserve it in a present with freed material. He considers the accidentally found, apparently worthless material and its form and texture as the material that culminates in his and our memory. The artist then brings together freed materials “that do not go together at all.”[2] In his artistic practice, he combines these “quasi random elements,” but he emphasizes, “There is no design aspect involved to make it a little better.”[3] In other words, he not only frees the material from its corset of use, but also liberates art from its traditional constraints.

-Dieter Buchhart

[1] A conversation with Rudolf Polanszky. February 11, 2015.
[2] “Late Bloomer: A Discussion between Rudolf Polanszky and Hans Ulrich Obrist,” in: Art Basel Miami Magazine (December 2018), 184–185
[3] Ibid., 186.

Press release

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Selected artworks

  • Rudolf Polanszky,                                      Sitting pictures, red series n°2, 1984

    Rudolf Polanszky Sitting pictures, red series n°2, 1984

    Acrylic and various types of colored paint, glue, photopaper mounted on wood in artist frame
    102,7 x 162,5 cm (framed)
    40 3/8 x 64 inches (framed)

  • Rudolf Polanszky,                                      Sitting pictures, blue series n°3, 1984

    Rudolf Polanszky Sitting pictures, blue series n°3, 1984

    Acrylic and various types of colored paint, glue, photopaper, mounted on wood, in artist frame
    102,9 x 152,6 cm (framed)
    40 1/2 x 60 1/8 inches (framed)

  • Rudolf Polanszky,                                      Sitting picture, blue series n° 4, 1983-85

    Rudolf Polanszky Sitting picture, blue series n° 4, 1983-85

    Sitting picture, blue series n° 4, 1983 - 85
    Acrylic and various types of colored paint, glue, photopaper mounted on wood, in artist frame
    102,9 x 162,2 cm (framed)
    40 1/2 x 63 7/8 inches (framed)

  • Rudolf Polanszky,                                      Coma, 1984

    Rudolf Polanszky Coma, 1984

    Acrylic on paper - in eight parts - photopaper mounted on wood, in artist frame
    233,1 x 143,4 cm (framed)
    91 3/4 x 56 1/2 inches (framed)

  • Rudolf Polanszky,                                      Coil spring drawings, 1983

    Rudolf Polanszky Coil spring drawings, 1983

    Acrylic on paper, photopaper, glue, mounted on wood in artist frame
    107,3 x 187,2 cm (framed)
    42 1/4 x 73 3/4 inches (framed)

  • Rudolf Polanszky,                                      Coil spring drawings, 1983

    Rudolf Polanszky Coil spring drawings, 1983

    Acrylic on paper, photopaper, glue, mounted on wood, in artist frame
    107,3 x 187 cm (framed)
    42 1/4 x 73 5/8 inches (framed)

  • Rudolf Polanszky,                                      Reconstructions / Archeotopics, 2009

    Rudolf Polanszky Reconstructions / Archeotopics, 2009

    Acrylic glass, plastic, aluminium foil, pigments, resin, silicone, glue, feathers, leaves, plastic foam mounted on wood, in artist frame
    147,8 x 202,4 cm
    58 1/4 x 79 5/8 inches

  • Rudolf Polanszky,                                      Reconstructions / Cyclomedric transformation, 2008

    Rudolf Polanszky Reconstructions / Cyclomedric transformation, 2008

    Cardboard, acrylic glass, acrylic paint, pugments, aluminium foil, glue, silicone, resin on molino canvas, in artist frame
    175 x 253,2 cm
    68 7/8 x 99 5/8 inches

  • Rudolf Polanszky,                                      Reconstructions / Rorschach transformations, 2010

    Rudolf Polanszky Reconstructions / Rorschach transformations, 2010

    AluminuAluminium foil, reflective foil, resin, acrylic glass, acrylic paint, glue, silicone on molino canvas, in artist frame
    123,8 x 143,7 cm
    48 3/4 x 56 5/8 inches

  • Rudolf Polanszky,                                      Reconstructions / Rorschach transformations, 2010

    Rudolf Polanszky Reconstructions / Rorschach transformations, 2010

    Aluminium foil, reflective foil, resin, acrylic glass, acrylic paint, glue, silicone on molino canvas, in artist frame
    124,4 x 142,9 cm
    49 x 56 1/4 inches

  • Rudolf Polanszky,                                      Reconstructions / Rorschach transformations, 2010

    Rudolf Polanszky Reconstructions / Rorschach transformations, 2010

    Aluminium foil, reflective foil, resin, acrylic glass, acrylic paint, glue, silicone on molino canvas, in artist frame
    124,1 x 141,6 cm
    48 7/8 x 55 3/4 inches

  • Rudolf Polanszky,                                      Rohrschach Transformations, 2011

    Rudolf Polanszky Rohrschach Transformations, 2011

    Mixed media
    125 x 141 x 3 cm (framed)
    49 1/4 x 55 1/2 x 1 1/8 inches (framed)

  • Rudolf Polanszky,                                      Reconstructions, 2005

    Rudolf Polanszky Reconstructions, 2005

    Aluminium foil, plastic, acrylic glass, silicone, glue, resin, feathers, leaves, plastic foil, giments on molino canvas, in artist frame
    188,4 x 266,6 cm
    74 1/8 x 105 inches

  • Rudolf Polanszky,                                      Reconstructions, 2004

    Rudolf Polanszky Reconstructions, 2004

    Aluminium foil, plastic, acrylic glass, silicone, glue, resin, pigments on molino canvas, in artist frame
    151,6 x 96,1 cm
    59 5/8 x 37 7/8 inches

  • Rudolf Polanszky,                                      Reconstructions, 2004

    Rudolf Polanszky Reconstructions, 2004

    Aluminium foil, plastic, acrylic glass, silicone, glue, resin, pigments, feathers on molino, in artist frame
    151,9 x 96,2 cm
    59 3/4 x 37 7/8 inches

  • Rudolf Polanszky,                                      Reconstructions, 2013

    Rudolf Polanszky Reconstructions, 2013

    Aluminium foil, plastic, acrylic glass, silicone, resin, pigments on molino canvas, in artist frame
    151,8 x 116,4 cm
    59 3/4 x 45 7/8 inches

  • Rudolf Polanszky,                                      Reconstructions / Translinear Structures, 2015

    Rudolf Polanszky Reconstructions / Translinear Structures, 2015

    Aluminium, mirrored foil, fibreglass, resin, acrylic on linen, in artist frame
    158,5 x 134,9 x 3,2 cm (framed)
    62 3/8 x 53 1/8 x 1 1/4 inches (framed)

  • Rudolf Polanszky,                                      Reconstructions / cardboard series n°5, 2009

    Rudolf Polanszky Reconstructions / cardboard series n°5, 2009

    Aluminium foil, plastic, acrylic glass, silicone, resin, cardboard, glue on molino canvas, in artist frame
    152 x 141,4 cm
    59 7/8 x 55 5/8 inches

  • Rudolf Polanszky,                                      Reconstructions / cardboard series n°6, 2009

    Rudolf Polanszky Reconstructions / cardboard series n°6, 2009

    Aluminium foil, plastic, acrylic glass, silicone, resin, cardboard, glue on molino canvas, in artist frame
    151,7 x 141,7 cm
    59 3/4 x 55 3/4 inches

  • Rudolf Polanszky,                                      Stills from “Memory and Music, 1985 - 89 and Spiral object, 1985

    Rudolf Polanszky Stills from “Memory and Music, 1985 - 89 and Spiral object, 1985,

    Photopaper mounted on wood, in artist frame, sculpture:
    metalwire on metalstand
    161,3 x 222,6 cm - 63 1/2 x 87 5/8 inches (framed)
    sculpture: 141 x 140 x 58 cm - 55 7/8 x 55 1/8 x 22 7/8 inches
    161,3 x 222,6 cm (framed)
    63 1/2 x 87 5/8 inches (framed)

  • Rudolf Polanszky,                                      Hypertransformation sculpture, 2000 - 2008

    Rudolf Polanszky Hypertransformation sculpture, 2000 - 2008

    Copper, plastic foil, silicone, plastic, resin, metal wire, plastic foam, feathers, on metal stands, on metal table - variable dimensions
    187 x 99 x 45 cm
    73 5/8 x 39 x 17 3/4 inches

  • Rudolf Polanszky,                                      Hypertransformations sculpture / Hanging series, 2005

    Rudolf Polanszky Hypertransformations sculpture / Hanging series, 2005

    Acrylic glass, resin, metal wire, silicone, glue, plastic, with metal hooks, on metal stand
    193,5 x 218,2 x 127,2 cm
    76 1/8 x 85 7/8 x 50 1/8 inches

  • Rudolf Polanszky,                                      Hyperbolic, 2015

    Rudolf Polanszky Hyperbolic, 2015

    Copper, plastic foil, resin, silicone, glue, on metal stand - Variable dimensions
    215,5 x 218 x 80 cm
    84 7/8 x 85 7/8 x 31 1/2 inches

  • Rudolf Polanszky,                                      Hypertransformations sculpture / folding sculpture, 2005

    Rudolf Polanszky Hypertransformations sculpture / folding sculpture, 2005

    Cardboard, acrylic paint, resin, plastic foil, silicone, resin, glue, on metal stand
    191 x 172,2 x 112 cm
    75 1/4 x 67 3/4 x 44 1/8 inches

  • Rudolf Polanszky,                                      Folding Sculpture, Flying Series No. 1, 2018

    Rudolf Polanszky Folding Sculpture, Flying Series No. 1, 2018

    Copper and steel pedestal
    204,5 x 163 x 75 cm
    80 1/2 x 64 1/8 x 29 1/2 inches