Jerzy Bereś
Avant-Garde Mass, 1979 (+18)
10.09.1979
Plein-air Art Meetings of Young Artists and Theoreticians in Świeszyno near Miastko
Manifestation description:
The interior of the common room at the open-air. In the first part of the room there is a medium-sized painting canvas on a stretcher, primed in white, lying on the floor. The canvas bears the black inscription: ARTIST’S ALTAR. Next to the canvas a pair of shoes is placed. In the middle of the room, also on the floor, there is a square of gray linen folded in half along the diagonal. The linen bears the inscription: AVANT-GARDE MASS. Slightly farther away, under the window, there is a table covered with white linen bearing the inscription HUMAN ALTAR. On the table stands a bottle of vodka and glasses. Action. The naked artist enters the room. He walks over to the canvas on the stretcher and puts on his shoes. He applies blue paint to the soles, stands on the white canvas and imprints the traces of the shoes. He takes a brush and paints letter B on his body. In turns he applies paint to the soles, imprints their marks on the canvas and paints the letters on his body. The actions get repeated until the word BEREŚ appears on his body. The white canvas with the inscription ARTIST’S ALTAR is covered with carefully composed shoe marks. The artist steps off the canvas, removes his shoes, and places them next to him. Barefoot, he walks over to the table bearing the inscription THE ARTIST’S ALTAR. He pours alcohol into glasses and at the same time crosses out the name painted on his body. He then walks over to a gray linen lying on the floor with the inscription AVANT-GARDE MASS and puts it on. The linen has a slit in the middle, thus forming a kind of kimono. The artist sits down among the open-air participants, lights a cigarette and asks them to start a discussion.
„Katalog twórczości Jerzego Beresia, 1954-1994 – część II: Manifestacje”, opr, Jerzy Hanusek [w:] Jerzy Bereś. Zwidy, wyrocznie, ołtarze, wyzwania, red. Aleksandra Węcka (Poznań: Muzeum Narodowe w Poznaniu, 1995), s. 125.