WORKS MIA PHOTO FAIR 2025

The project "PACANOWSKA/PACANOWSKI", presented in preview at MIA Photo Fair, is conceived as a meeting between two worlds, two eras, and two modes of perceiving and representing art. This visual exploration, born from the mind of photographer Andrea Pacanowski, serves as a fascinating bridge between past and present, establishing a dialogue between his contemporary vision and that of his aunt, the artist Félicia Pacanowska, an emblematic figure of the École de Paris.
 

At the heart of the project lies a reflection on the relationship between blood and art—a familial bond that becomes the vehicle for an artistic experience transcending temporal and stylistic boundaries.

Painter Pacanowska, born in Łódź in 1907 and later based in Paris, was a central figure in the French art scene of the 20th century, influenced by the most innovative movements of her time—from Expressionism to Cubism—before arriving at an abstract style expressed through her engravings and graphic works. Despite her reserved character and reluctance to expose her work to public appreciation, her art revealed a remarkable technical versatility and a brilliant ability to fuse diverse styles. Andrea Pacanowski’s project is not simply a tribute or reinterpretation of his aunt’s work; it aspires to an alchemical fusion of photography and painting, where the boundaries between the two mediums dissolve.
 

With the collaboration of graphic designer Stefano Zingaro, Félicia’s works are reimagined through photography in a fluid play of shapes and colors that conveys the emotion and evocative power of painting. The overlapping photographic images not only echo the aesthetic sensibilities of the 20th century but reinterpret them through a contemporary visual language—mirrored and blurred—capable of delivering a sensory and three-dimensional metamorphosis.
 

Pacanowski’s work unfolds in two main sections: on one hand, a homage to his aunt’s figurative works, in which the photographer inserts female bodies that seem to come alive, animating Pacanowska’s paintings without undermining their tradition. On the other hand, her abstract works are reinterpreted with expressive freedom, allowing the photographer to venture into a personal interpretation of colors and forms, transforming abstraction into a visual language that transcends the very concept of photography. This creative process becomes a meditation on art as a constant flow and transformation, in which the lines between painting and photography dissolve.
 

The project thus emerges not only as a stylistic fusion, but also as a "metamorphosis of the image", in which the artist uses photography to breathe new life into Félicia’s works—paying tribute to her art in a way that becomes part of the 20th-century artistic tradition while simultaneously living in a dynamic and innovative present. Pacanowski’s work not only honors his aunt’s memory but offers a fresh, contemporary perspective on modern art, making her legacy visible in a new form capable of speaking to today’s audience.
 

"PACANOWSKI/PACANOWSKA" is, ultimately, an exploration that challenges the boundaries between past and future, between painting and photography, between memory and innovation. It is an act of rediscovery—but also reinvention: a work in which art becomes a bridge between generations, uniting blood, memory, and vision. MIA Photo Fair, thanks to the selection by Liquid Art System, becomes the ideal venue for the debut of this extraordinary project, which not only celebrates art but invites the viewer to immerse themselves in a new visual and sensory dimension.