Artur Majka (1967-), Homoanonymus, 2022
Patinated bronze on aqua resine base.
Piece unique.
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Artur Majka was born in 1967 in Tarnow, Poland. Since 1992 he has been living and working in Paris. He graduated in architecture from the Cracow University of Technology and in art studies at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. This versatile education is reflected in his art, both through the use of various techniques, including acrylic painting, photography and screen printing (among others), but also in the diversity of his professional experience. Indeed, Artur Majka is not only a painter and photographer, but also works as a graphic designer: he produces illustrations for various publications and is the author of many posters. In addition, he often combines several techniques and styles in one work, which allows him to achieve an original effect and gives his works a new artistic dimension. At the same time, the artist remains true to his education: regardless of the technique used, the line is always the basis of the composition of all his works. It is both a starting point and an integral part of the result, also - or perhaps above all - in works bordering on figuration and abstraction. Artur Majka regularly exhibits his works in Poland, the US and France.
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The "Homoanonymus" project was born in 1997. It was from this year that the first dated drawing was made, which in the future was to become the beginning of a rich collection of works and a well-thought-out artistic philosophy, which is the Homoanonymus project today. The name itself was first used publicly during an exhibition at the Roi Dore art gallery in Paris in 2010. Over time, the project has been enriched with new meanings, interpretations and forms. In 2022, the 25th anniversary of the project's birth, Homoanonymus set out into the wide world in a form that is at the intersection of sculpture, street art and performance, and acquired a new virtual identity.
Homoanonymus combines two elements characteristic of Artur Majka's work: the role of the line as the basis of each work's composition, and the central role of the human being, who is a constant source of inspiration for the artist. Majka is a very versatile artist, creating acrylic and oil paintings on canvas and wood, drawings, collages, prints, photographs, but also large spatial forms made of metal or small spatial structures made of wood or metal. He often combines different techniques and sources of inspiration within a single work. At the same time, the line - vigorous, more or less regular, "cardiographic" - invariably remains a key element of his work, being both the basis of the composition, the starting point, and an integral part of the whole. Homoanonymus is also a deeply humanistic project, as it is the human being that invariably remains at the center of Artur Majka's interest. The genesis of the Homoanonymus collection was a drawing gallery of figures that the artist began creating upon his arrival in Paris. These quickly sketched silhouettes of people observed in the subway or on the street became the starting point for artistic explorations - their stylized forms can be found in his painting, sculpture or applied art (such as jewelry) - but also philosophical ones. As Majka writes in his artistic manifesto: "Homoanonymus was born in the Paris metro. There, amidst a flurry of faces and figures, I searched and searched for justification of its abstract final form. (...) This was not the time for an in-depth psychological portrait, but only for an instantaneous, line note of a passing person, an anonymous person. (...) And ultimately to the constatation that man is always the same, regardless of skin color, hairstyle, facial expression, psychology."
The Homoanonymus project currently consists of drawings, paintings, sculptures, jewelry, but also less conventional forms resulting from the artist's explorations and experiences, such as art books.
