Through "The Taste of Cherry" series Wysocki is examining the sense of human existence. In ordered to do that the artist creates a group of mysterious characters. He comments on it: […] I am fascinated with human and what one may create around this creature. How human’s nature is entangled in the process of artistic creation. I used to treat my models purely materialistic, as a form of my frame. Now I am interested how working with a model changes the whole experience and final effect. The hours spend together, feelings developed during work – it all sums up.

Wysocki’s approach is to create a subjective vision of consecutive phases of our lives. Birth, growing up, maturity and old age are given in allegorical, full of hidden meanings and meticulously composed photographs. All the imagined situations are taking place beyond time and space. As a result, the maximum effect is built upon the form and hidden anecdote. The precision of the details is astonishing. The overall impression is amplified by the large-scale format. Last but not least: the anxiety, characteristic of the previous works is still present in "The Taste of Cherry".

On the one hand, “The Taste of Cherry” could be a continuation of Artist’s previous searches. On the other, it opens up new investigations such as the conscious and sensitive use of the light and shadow. The light becomes next hero of Wysocki’s images, almost like in expressive Caravaggio’s paintings. The atmosphere of the photographs is serious, almost dark. About the work with models, the artist says: I used to treat people in front of the lens as the form that I set up with a perfect precision in front of the camera. This time, I wanted to work more like a film director. Through attempts, tips and conversations, I tried to enter the actors into the space of the set design and observe how they find themselves in it, not just imposing the final composition in 100%, as it happened in my previous cycles.

The process behind „The Taste of Cherry” was indeed like a movie production. Firstly, a few years ago when Wysocki just has started his studies at Photography Department in National Film School in Łódź, Poland, the first scenario and detailed sketches of the scenes were created. Each element was meticulously planned. In the meantime, funds for the project were being raised. Wysocki engaged a group of 60 people: actors, set designers, plan managers, make-up artists, costume designers, stuntmen, and video operators. Photo sessions were carried out in Łódź, in a huge 2000 m2 studio.Wysocki’s approach is to create a subjective vision of consecutive phases of our lives. Birth, growing up, maturity and old age are given in allegorical, full of hidden meanings and meticulously composed photographs. All the imagined situations are taking place beyond time and space. As a result, the maximum effect is built upon the form and hidden anecdote. The precision of the details is astonishing. The overall impression is amplified by the large-scale format. Last but not least: the anxiety, characteristic for the previous works is still present in “The Taste of Cherry”.

It is uneasy to track down the aesthetical inspirations inside “The Taste of Cherry”, but from the practical point of view, Wysocki’s methods are similar to those used by masters of photography like Jeff Wall, Gregory Crewdson, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Thomas Demand or Paweł Bownik. Wysocki himself admits to the fascination rather with painting and sculpture: Egon Schiele, Vermeer, Lucian Freud, Caravaggio – these are the names that are particularly fascinating to me now. It is not so obvious, but I see in their work many staging-related elements that inspire me and which I try creatively use in my work.

Tomasz Wysocki planned his project with care for details; however, the photographs were designed to leave room for interpretation of the recipient. This is the kind of a statement that can be found in the famous painting by Paul Gaugin, entitled “Who we are, where we come from, where we are going to”. “The Taste of Cherry” created by Tomasz Wysocki lances original modern development of thoughts expressed by Gaugin, that is embodied in 12 large-format photographs.

Tomasz Wysocki, „Smak Wiśni”
Opening night: 20.04.2018, 7 pm
Exhibition: 21.04 – 03.06.2018
Curator: Rafał Łochowski
Free admission

Acompagning programme:
Meet the author session with Tomasz Wysocki, moderating Kuba Mikurda – 10.05.2018, 6 pm
Guided tour on “Taste of Cherry” exhibition, Tomasz Wysocki, Rafał Łochowski  – 24.05. 2018, 6 pm

Opening hours: Monday-Saturday 10AM-8PM, Working Sundays 12AM-6PM
Leica 6×7 Gallery Warsaw, Mysia 3 Street, IInd floor

photography:
Tomasz Wysocki

produced by:
Tomasz Wysocki

production design:
Natalia Giza

art department:
Szymon Jagielski, Sebastian Rozpara, Kacha Bińko

production department:
Tomasz Blumental, Adrian Jasion, Agata Maceł, Patrycja Węglarz, Monika Krążyńska, Aleksandra Musiał, Julia Klewaniec

costume design:
Elwira Rutkowska, Dorota Podgórska

set assistants:
Andrzej Woźniakiewicz, Giovanni Cimarosti, Bartek Stojek, Wojtek Piotrowski, Kuba Urbański, Krzysztof Żabski

makeup department:
Łukasz Lipiński, Karolina Golis, Aga Zajdel

editing (video):
Michał Lejczak

music (video):
Alex Raczyński, Bartłomiej Talaga

cast:
Justyna Litwic (#1)
Kaja Werbanowska (#2)
Tomasz Chrapusta (#2)
Maja Pryjda (#3)
Sandra Plajzer (#4)
Paulina Walendziak (#5)
Marcel Borowiec (#6)
Monika Buchowiec (#8)
Kamil Kunikowski (#10)
Marek Dmoch (#11)
Helena Norowicz (#12)
Katarzyna Majda (#12)

special thanks:
Natalia Giza, Julia Klewaniec, Małgorzata Koszowska, Kristina Selvesyuk, Anna Mateyuk, Olena Didora, Anastasia Saleiczuk, Edward Kurczewski, Rafał Łochowski, Artur Wojciechowski, Renata Wojciechowska, Max Kobiela, Szymon Kobusiński, Krzysztof Apostolidis, Krzysztof Suskiewicz, Piotr Kowalski, Andrzej Chill Woźniakiewicz, Adam Chill Woźniakiewicz, Mariusz Wysocki, Adrian Jaszczak, Wojtek Piotrowski, Michał Wydrzyński, Giovanni Cimarosti, Jakub Urbański, Marjan Wielkopolski, Jacek Koprowicz, Janusz Tylman, Grzegorz Przyborek, Piotr Tomczyk, Zbigniew Wichłacz, Anna Zarychta, Kuba Mikurda, Marek Szyryk, Krzysztof Pijarski, Bartłomiej Talaga, Hubert Humka, Tomasz Komorowski, Paweł Fabjański, Tomek Albin, Przemysław Kowalczyk, Piotr Jagiełło, Kuba Szkudlarek, Maurycy Chełmiński, Marcin Wydrzyński, Iza Cieżko, Krzysztof Żabski, Sonja Orlewicz-Zakrzewska, Michał Mikulski, Pola Sobuń, Karolina Jonderko, Andrzej Sosnowski, Anton Kasyan, Paulina Wojnar, Sławomir Kasper, Dorota Smith, Karol Smulski, Eryk Siemianowicz, Filip Warot, Michał Buczek, Bartosz Gruz, Martyna Nitkowska, Filip Wijas, Jakub Rynkiewicz, Justyna Miśkowiec, Sylwia Księżopolska, Magdalena Paszko, Anna Zagrodzka, Weronika Jędrzejczak, Mateusz Maciejewski, Tomek Lisiecki, Kasia Frączak, Dorota Smith, Asia Rój, Pamela Gebler, Paulina Żelazko, Aga Mańkowska, Klara Kamińska, Mateusz Muzyka, Jarosław Koszowsk, Michał Edelman, Maciej Edelman