Vibrant Dimensions, Vivid Motion: Wojciech Fangor’s Exploration of Space, Illusion and Colour
An artistic version of scientific experiments, a loving eye looking at the marvels of the surrounding universe, or, perhaps, a political rebellion and exile? Wojciech Fangor’s (1922-2015) abstract works captivate and puzzle. While he is recognized as a representative of op-art (Optical Art), his works hold much more sophistication than just a simple trickery of an optical illusion. Behind this renowned Polish contemporary artist's pieces stand a lifetime of fascination with the cosmos, curiously careful observations of the surrounding world, as well as an appreciation of the “three-dimensional space as a material to express emotions and a worldview”. Meticulously yet intuitively, Fangor employed the power of colour to translate these ideas into visual art. Invading the space around the works, his colours pay homage to astronomy, utilise architectural conventions, and invite the audience to become co-creators of the pieces and their experience.
Biography
Wojciech Fangor, having an engineer father and a pianist mother, has always been surrounded by visual and audio design. Under his mother’s creative eye, he was brought up with pencils and oil paints by his side. He began his art education at the age of 12 in 1934 and continued it amidst the chaos and horrors of the Second World War. Fangor graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw in 1946, equipped with formal skills and an academic portfolio full of landscapes and portraits. Under the Soviet political occupation of Poland following the end of the Second World War, Wojciech Fangor worked on government projects, putting his academic skills into the propagandist Socialist Realism. His works, typical of this style, promoted Soviet achievements and criticised the West. Notably, his most famous works of this period, Postaci (Figures) (1950) and Matka Koreanka (Korean Mother) (1951) stand as a reflection of the system’s disapproval of Western capitalism and imperialism, while simultaneously praising the Soviet system’s contributions and its labourers’ dignifying work.
Following Stalin’s death in 1953 and the consequent, though temporary, relaxation of the restrictive censorship in Eastern Block through Khrushchev's Thaw, Wojciech Fangor turned away from Socialist Realism, a decision fueled by his discontent with the Soviet system, its negative influence on Polish culture and arts, as well as a traumatic scar it left on his family. He began exploring the expressive side of art through poster design, becoming one of the most cherished poster designers in Soviet Poland and a co-founder of the Polish School of Posters. This newly found, though still restricted, freedom of expression introduced Fangor to what would become his biggest legacy, bring him a worldwide appraisal, and establish him as a representative of Polish contemporary art - abstraction.
Dimensions of black and white
Fangor began working with abstraction in 1957, inspired by his collaboration with Polish architects for a Polish Pavilion at the Brussels World’s Fair. A milestone in his career came just a year later in 1958, with his first abstract art exhibition Studium Przestrzeni (Study of Space). A manifesto of his philosophy and a thunderstorm in the Polish art scene, it was more of a multisensory experience than an event. The exhibition is considered by many to be the first Polish environmental installation, which, also known simply as “environment”, is a form of art that considers the space as a crucial element of an artwork, rather than as a background for multiple pieces.
Fangor’s works included in Studium Przestrzeni manifested his idea of abstract art and set a direction for the next two decades of his career. White and black shapes, some calmly dissolving into each other while some bordering one another abruptly transformed the canvas into Fangor’s experiment. Hidden within the simplicity of black and white colours was the exploration of the purest concepts of space and dimensions, as perceived by the human eye and as felt by the human senses. These shades, and their dynamic relationship with the unpredictable shapes, were a surprise, a revelation that does not ask but demands attention. On canvas and outside of it, in co-existence and collaboration, they moved, pulsated, swayed, and altered, disrupting the audience’s perception of dimensions and intruding into the space not meant for them.
Free of imposed guidelines, the audience was invited to choose their own way of exploration of the works, encouraged to treat the paintings as an element of the room, a play with the space, and a test of senses. Set in the intentionally random layout around the gallery space, meant to be explored unboundedly and dependent on the viewer’s perspective, Fangor’s black-and-white collisions became a moving body - an unpredictable landscape of abstract, monochromatic shapes. “The paintings are anonymous parts of a totality, which begins to fulfil itself in real space,” and within that disrupted, relative space, the viewer became a part of it too.
The co-existence of these colours asked the audience to be and experience the works in tune with their intuition, rather than process them individually with logic and rationale. Fangor’s paintings in Studium Przestrzeni, with their simplicity of colour and complexity of shape, were his introduction to the power of abstract and op-art, but also an invitation for his audience to become active investigators, who, curiously, note, observe, and question the surrounding space and their selves within it.
Wojciech Fangor, Studium Przestrzeni, 1958, environmental installation, Fot. Wojciech Zamecznik
Image Credit: FANGOR Foundation
Wojciech Fangor, Studium Przestrzeni, 1958, environmental installation, Fot. Wojciech Zamecznik
Image Credit: FANGOR Foundation
Vibrant pulsation
Even in the earliest stages of his abstract practice, colour was arguably the most important element of Fangor’s work. In Studium Przestrzeni, his use of black and white explored the illusional trickery of their visual relationship through antonymous gradients and edges. Following his first abstract exhibition, however, his practice embraced a blended explosion of colours and moving shapes. Marking him a “maestro of sfumato”, which is a painting technique of application and soft blurring of pigments, Fangor’s delicate infusion of loud colours became not only his signature but also a stage for the exploration of the relationship between space and human perception. At the same time, his lifelong fascination with the visual prospects of the cosmos, astronomy, and optical instruments used for their observation, also found its way into the works.
Wojciech Fangor’s earliest, and most celebrated, abstract works host the integration of vivid shades and circles. A love letter to celestial bodies and a materialisation of space, these vibrant pieces give an illusion of motion and pulsation, and, like a waterspout or a black hole, pull the viewer in.
B 2 (1964) is an exceptional example of Fangor’s translation of colour into a platform for movement. On the beige square background, a circle explodes. Its outer edge, fruit-like orange, jumps into forest green, then turns into a dominating rich blue, to boldly step into bright pink. Finally - white. The centrepiece of the work, the conductor of the movement, the architect of the dimension. The canvas has just lost its flatness. This delicate yet powerful collaboration removes the paint from the fabric to create a new space away from the wall. The circular shape, emancipated by a value-reliant order of pigments and their masterful integration, creates an illusion of movement. Here speaks Fangor’s passion for astronomy and its observation methodologies. The painting resembles a blurry image one might see when looking up at the sky through a telescope, or even the first-ever picture of a black hole. The circle appears to be pulsating, towards and from the viewer. Deprived of a point of reference, a spot where one’s eyes can stop, focus, and attempt to comprehend what is exactly happening, the confused audience is dragged into the painting. Is the soft-edged white hole coming towards you? Or is the vivid circle just expanding? Fangor’s sfumato forces the viewer to become a co-creator of the work, marking it a collaborative experience (perhaps a performance?) more than a painting. Even the sheer existence of the paintings relies heavily on the viewer - its perception and action depend on the viewer’s position in relation to the piece, time spent observing it, as well as curiosity and confusion. The disruption of the viewer’s senses is what gives these works their power. They are demanding and unavoidable, discomforting yet satisfying. Fangor’s circular mastery of colour makes the abstract work just as much of an emotional experience as it is visual.
Wojciech Fangor, B 2, 1964, oil on canvas, 100,5 x 100,5 cm, private collection, Warsaw
Image Credit: DESA Unicum
Wavy Vibrations
Wojciech Fangor’s groundbreaking experimentation with the concepts of space and perception in art saw its origins not only in his fascination with the cosmos but also in his admiration for architecture and its emotional faculties. He has collaborated with Polish architects on multiple projects, notably the Warsaw railway and metro station design, learning and experiencing the power of spatial design first-hand. There, he merged specific relationships of colours, his careful observations of the surrounding world, and the power of the viewer’s perception to create vibrant mosaics that move along with the travelling audience. His goal was to create a visual illusion that both equips the place with intriguing multidimensional art and humanizes its claustrophobic character. This approach to space as an active and influential element in daily life is heavily reflected in Fangor’s art, notably in his wavy works.
Further breaking the spatial barrier between the work and the audience, Wojciech Fangor played with the forces of colour and illusion in the magnetic M 17 (1970). Reddish orange, arguably the first colour caught by the eye, accented by the forest green, spills into vivid blue and plum purple. Or, maybe the other way around? The orange is a background for a romantic play between the purple and blue? Once again, Fangor does not spare the audience the confusion and lack of relativity, proving that a search for logical explanation or purpose in his works is pointless. They are here to be experienced. This time, however, the waves not only disrupt the perception of the spatial depth inside and in front of the painting, like his aureolas do. The wavy shapes encouraged by the combination and values of colours create a vibration, a noise that escapes the canvas. Like waves of an ocean, of sound, of light, the vivid hues of orange, blue and purple remain in constant motion. Dissolving into each other, they lure the viewer along into the buzz, slipping off the surface of the canvas onto the space around it. Let’s not forget the size - the demanding 173 on 203 centimetres overwhelm, making the work inescapably absorbing. Although the audience might not necessarily have power over the creation of the physical piece itself, however, their perception is what creates the painting’s gravity and meaning. Like Fangor’s architectural projects, the piece becomes an always-changing collaboration between the artist and the audience, supported by the creator’s masterful usage of colour and materialisation of space, and curated by the viewer’s presence and instincts. Shaking up the room, Wojciech Fangor’s unique employment of colours and waves mirrors his idea of space as an unmissable component of the surrounding world, an active element of daily life, and an unconventional platform for exploration of one’s perception of the universe.
Wojciech Fangor, M 17, 1970, oil on canvas, 173 x 203 cm, collection of Wojciech Fibak, Monte Carlo
Image Credit: DESA Unicum
The living relationship between colours was the foundation of Wojciech Fangor’s illusions. The play with dimensions, intrusion of space, as well as disruption of the viewer’s spatial perception relied on the masterful integration of colours and their co-existence on the canvas. The cosmos, optical instruments, architecture - these formal fields, objects and ideas were his inspiration, however, in the end, “all important discoveries originate from unconscious intuition.” His sensitivity to space and respect for its authority, as well as the mindful awareness of human senses and admiration of the universe pierce the vivid hues and shapes, becoming the actual subject of his works. Abstract and structural, yet deeply personal and emotional, Wojciech Fangor’s radiant pieces become a unique, living being that intrigues, confuses, and, most importantly, reminds us of our presence and its place within the universe.
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