Izabella Gustowska, CONCERNING FEATURES OF SIMILARITY IV, 1979.

107 x 77cm - color offset, paper

Signed in pencil on engraving l.d.: Relative features of similarity IV, med.: autooffset 7/10, p.: Izabella Gustowska 1979

In the series "Relative Features of Similarity" (twin pairs), the starting point is the perversity of nature itself, proposing a "duplicate object", seemingly perfect copies in the visual layer....
What seems to be important is the physical connection of these "objects" with the photographic image, the ever-present (despite the appearance of perfect copying) variability. It is an attempt to record a specifically mimetic reality outside of reality itself, and in the end to bring about a confrontation with the original objects. Thus, it would be a constant reflection on the differences and similarities, as well as traces, in which the initial situation, or rather its notation, returns to the object expanded by a new value. Thus, it returns to the starting point, which, through a process of change that progresses over time - is already a new form of reality.
Izabella Gustowska, commentary on works from the series Relative Features of Similarity in the album: Art of Youth 1975-1980, MAW, Warsaw 1986, p. 135.


Image exhibited, mentioned and reproduced in, among others:: Work reproduced in:
- Sztuka młodych 1975-1980, MAW, Warsaw 1986, p. 135, il. 177;
- Izabella Gustowska I remember how... I remember that... A selection of works 1977-1996, cat. of the exhibition, State Gallery of Art in Sopot, Sopot 1 X - 15 XI 2015, p. 87, il. b.;
- Izabella Gustowska: relative features of similarity I-II (compiled by Wojciech Makowiecki, Marianna Michalowska, Miroslaw Pawlowski), Municipal Gallery "Arsenal", Poznan 2000, p. 7;
- Don't Ask About Poland. From the collection of Katarzyna Szafrańska and Wojciech Szafrański, ed. Marta Smolińska, Center for Contemporary Art "Signs of the Times", Toruń 21 II - 25 V 2025, p. 167.
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Izabella Gustowska (Poznañ 18 May 1948, lives in Poznañ)studied from 1967 to 1972 at the State Higher School of Fine Arts (now the Academy of Fine Arts) in Poznañ. She defended her diploma under the direction of Prof. Tadeusz Jackowski. After graduation, she began teaching at her alma mater, which she continues to this day. She has held the title of professor since 1991. While still a student, she became a member of the Od Nowa art group (besides her, it was co-founded by Wojciech Müller, Bogumił Kaczmarek, Wiesław Krzyżaniak and Lidia Zielińska). The group was active in 1970-1978, presenting actions using monumental spatial forms in the open air and paratheatrical activities. From 1979 to 1992, the artist ran the avant-garde ON Gallery in Poznań. Until around 1984, her work was dominated by graphic series (offset), which became the basis for later spatial painting objects, and finally installations using photographic objects, neon light, and video projections. She is troubled by problems not easily translated into visual language, such as time, its passing, the duality of human nature, dreamlike states. The artist is active in the feminist art trend, also as an organizer of group exhibitions. She has repeatedly presented her works at solo and group exhibitions, both on the off-gallery circuit and at international festivals, such as the Sao Paulo Art Biennale in 1987. She has won, among others, the Grand Prix at the 7th Festival of Polish Contemporary Painting, Szczecin 1978, the Main Prize at the 10th MBG, Cracow 1984, the Gold Medal at the 2nd Triennial of Contemporary Art, New Delhi 1986, the Grand Prix at the 9th MBG, Fredrikstad 1989.