Łukasz Jastrubczak
Ghost

26.04–25.05.2013

In the early 70s the U.S. government finally moved away from the gold standard. This decision resulted in the termination of the Bretton Woods Agreement according to which all the currencies of countries which have ratified it took cover in the dollar, and that, as a guarantor of the stability of the global economy, was backed by gold.

Abandonment of the gold standard changed the architecture of the global economy forever, opening the field to the ongoing process of inflation, development of stock markets, internationalization of capital flows, de-industrialization, and casino capitalism.

Almost at the same time, conceptual art came into its most radical dimension of rejecting the need to create physical objects. In this short period, it was enough for artists to create ideas, without even having to realize them.

The title “ghost of conceptualism” is the ghost that permeates and even creates artifacts, proven by one of the artist’s works. The exhibition evokes the idea of art detached from its materiality but, simultaneously, the value of the works displayed in the gallery is measurable in dollars. This shows that art and economics intersect more often than is usually considered. In an era when finance mostly finances finance, it’s worth a bet on something – for instance the gold bar, which Łukasz cut from cardboard. Its authenticity leaves no doubt.

Since his first exhibition “01” at the CCA Kronika in Bytom in 2007, Łukasz Jastrubczak was interested in the artistic avant-garde – both pre and post-war. Using various media such as video, installation, drawing, object, performance, intervention, and travel, he takes the strategies of conceptual art and gives them an ephemeral and lytic character. An important theme found within his works is the myth of America – its iconography and cinema.

Previously, the artist has shown his works in solo exhibitions in BWA Zielona Góra, Bunkier Sztuki Gallery in Cracow, Sabot Gallery in Cluj, Pies Gallery in Poznań and Art in General in New York. He participated in group exhibitions in CCA in Warsaw, the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw and the MuseumsQuartier in Vienna.