Zdzisław Sosnowski, Goalkeeper, 1976, photograph, 70 x 96 cm

Two black-and-white large photographs by Zdzisław Sosnowski, from the 1976 series Goalkeeper, can be found in the Galeria Studio collection.

They were taken while shooting the artist’s 16mm film of the same title. Both photographs feature contact sheets of the entire photo shoot in their lower left corner.

The film was made between 1975-1977 with the participation of Teresa Tyszkiewicz. It is an amalgamation of several scenes, a montage in which speed, vehemence, movement and soundtrack are important. Goalkeeper is a parodic take on erotic relationships, in which a football plays the role of a fetish.

Working somewhat differently, the photographs in this series are independent works. They extract the metaphorical from the sequence of events: we see a moment of triumph of symbolic femininity over symbolic masculinity. It is a momentary victory, in an unequal battle without rules.

Zdzisław Sosnowski ran Galeria Studio in Warsaw from 1978­–81, contributing to the development of its program and collection in a neo-avant-garde direction. During this time, artists such as Sol LeWitt and Mario Merz exhibited there. After martial law was declared, the artist moved permanently to France, where he still lives and works today. Teresa Tyszkiewicz (1950–2020), played an important role in Sosnowski’s films and photographs, and in the artist’s private life (they were married), and she was also an outstanding artist and author of her own films, paintings, assemblages and photographs.

Dorota Jarecka