Andrzej Dłużniewski (1939-2012), Nieon XIII from the Nieon series, 1995

collage, paper
30 x 24 cm
Signed, titled, dated, on front frame: wooden frame, glass
One of a series of 29 works that are a kind of "anti-portraits," collage compositions depicting the same human figure "filled" with different contents. For the artist, these were portraits of those with whom he could not communicate, find a common language. The semi-humorous and moralizing series of portraits built from newspaper clippings, photographs or the refuse of everyday life was a game with language, art, literature and ethical systems. Familiar phrases from everyday language such as "out of his depth," "full of doubts," "he has a heart of stone," "only foolishness in his head," the artist translated into the visual language of filling in successive figures. In Nieons, as in Burlesques and Word Games, he developed a perverse dialogue with tradition, ways of perceiving art and not always amusing everyday life.

Works from the series reproduced in, among others: Andrzej Dłużniewski. I Am Not Asked About Anything, Profile Foundation, Warsaw 2019; Walking with Andrzej Dłużniewski Toward Art, Museum of Art in Lodz, 2005; Nieon I-XLI. Not-Him I-XLI, Old Gallery, Lublin 1997.