MADE IN AMERICA is a new series of 11 paintings by Polish-born artist Dominik Zarowny. Using acrylic paint on salvaged cotton primed with gesso, Zarowny responds to the clear imperative to revise how the U.S.A is seen and represented on a personal level, culturally and globally.
MADE IN AMERICA reminisces on the desolation of the American dream, from the artist’s perspective as part of the first generation to grow up in post-Communist Poland. Throughout the 1990s, American TV and cinema had a strong cultural influence in Poland and the wider world, as a benchmark for freedom, opportunity, heroism, wealth, and success. Zarowny caricatures the U.S.A’s subsequent self- destruction, rendering the hypocrisy of “the land of the free” with darkly cartoonish figures and rapid, intuitive brushwork.
Dominik is a self-educated, multidisciplinary artist whose work draws on the principles of surrealism to create nightmarish yet energetic interpretations of the characters, dynamics, and circumstances of the contemporary world. As a painter, he works primarily with acrylics, oils, and pastels; he often uses salvaged materials to imbue my art with unique textural qualities and deep connections to place.
Dominik’s current work focuses on the present and catastrophic decline of the West, and the sense of alienation and dislocation experienced by young people as they witness the fracturing of their own culture, and try to make sense of their place in a fast-changing world. Dominik has participated in group and solo exhibitions and workshops as far afield as Marrakech (2017), Milan (2019), and London (2017, 2018, 2019). Dominik takes a collaborative approach to his work as an artist, participating in partnerships, projects, and collectives including Djago, Fountayne Collective, and Bad Art.
Dominic Zarowny’s new exhibition ‘Made In America’ is showing at the Shac, 74-76 Hoddle Street, Robertson NSW 2577 until Monday 30 November, 2020.