CHRIS DOBROWOLSKI
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Offer Must End Soon.
Essay- 
Jessica Twyman (
Gallery Director University of Essex and Curator )

PicturePhoto: Jo Newman

​​I first came across Chris Dobrowolski’s work in 1998 in the exhibition ‘The Uses of an artist: Constable in Constable Country Now’, and was struck by the originality of his talent – I had never seen anything like it. While you cannot ignore a tank made out of Constable reproductions rolling over the gentle hills of Suffolk, Dobrowolski’s smaller-scale works also share the same inventiveness. His latest series includes painted dioramas made from found materials such as wooden boxes or record players which are transformed into miniature worlds. A complex array of sound and interaction mechanisms is incorporated to help set the scene. It is easy to laugh or be amazed by the objects presented, yet on closer inspection there is a tight focus to each work that hints at the thoughtfulness behind Dobrowolski’s production. In this exhibition he turns his attention to the relationship between artistic integrity and commodification in the art market.
Picture

​For many years, Chris Dobrowolski has been uncomfortable with the art market, with feelings of the denigration of art through the commercial process always lurking near the surface. He found himself in a paradox of his own making: he couldn’t sell his work without risking a level of self-compromise. This exhibition attempts to deal with these ‘hang-ups’ straight on. Each work concentrates on an aspect of promotion and marketing - from a beautifully painted diorama that sets the scene for ice-cream selling to a parody of the free gifts inside cereal packets. Each work is carefully crafted, technically fascinating - and always thought-provoking.
Picture
Photo: Jo Newman
PicturePhoto: Jo Newman
​The tank is just one of a number of functioning vehicles made by Dobrowolski, along with a boat, a hovercraft, a pedal car and an aeroplane. Lovingly hand-constructed, and bizarrely engineered from found bits and pieces, these vehicles function as a paradox: they offer a real-life experience, while at the same time transporting the artist into an imaginary world he seems to want to escape to. With the small-scale works, a parallel universe emerges where toy cars set off on adventures across a diorama painted with a landscape setting, while electrical appliances contribute movement and atmosphere. Ironically - considering the critique of this exhibition - the smaller works are now infinitely more saleable than their larger counterparts.

Picture
Photo: Jo Newman
Picture
Photo: Jo Newman
Picture
Photo: Jo Newman
 Selling is going to be difficult for Chris Dobrowolski, and the whole process of making works destined for a white cubegallery has been uneasy, although undoubtedly intriguing. Indeed, one reason why he has developed an insightful and self-deprecating performative lecture about his work is that it allowed him to reach a wide audience while not having to show his work in an art environment. A few years ago, Chris was described as an ‘anti-art artist’ and I asked him if this was still the case. He quickly answered: ‘an anti-art artist plus, plus, plus - to infinity’. This has become one of the great strengths of his work - its integrity and lack of artifice. For a long time the sheer scale of his work has been a resistance to the art world in itself: the boat was at its best at sea, the pedal car made sense crossing the Fens while escaping from art college in Hull, and the hovercraft needed to be returned to the beach where all the plastic bottles is was made from were found. These became rites of passage, and in this exhibition of smaller works there is a sense of an artist growing up. They don’t have to be so personal, so tied directly into a life-changing experience. Nonetheless, they still matter, and each work focuses in on itself with an integrity of materials, of execution and (perhaps most critically) an integrity to the idea behind the work itself. All the works share this common thread and it becomes central to everything on display.  Dobrowolski has described a number of works in the show as ‘one liners’ and perhaps by this he means that he sees them as direct interpretations of the exhibition’s subject matter. Others works, made more recently, share the same focus but have a more ambiguous translation. Stop Me and Buy One (If You Can), for example, has evolved a visual identity of its own and perhaps in doing so, a subtler message. Already, the process of making the work has grown and relaxed into itself.
Picture
Photo: Jo Newman
​In an attempt to position Chris’s art while working together on this show, we discussed whether his work is process- or performance-based, for elements of both are clearly present in his work. As I did less of the talking and Chris fell into his entertaining anecdotes, it became clear that a central impulse was emerging. Landscape - it’s always present and I don’t think he would dispute it if he were described as a landscape artist.
Picture
Photo: Jo Newman
​The impulse also seems to run deeper than that, however. A few years back Chris explained: ‘I have spent time at art college learning a visual language, but I am conscious that, compared to my father who went through the war, I’ve got nothing to say. I need the things I make to be some sort of small adventure. As a result I find that they are made in a similar way and for similar reasons – as I used to make go-karts when I was a child. As “real-life” experiences my adventures may pale in comparison to, say, my father’s in the war. However, this sense of inadequacy I feel is an experience in itself.’ As a post war generation we have a very different reality to those who had direct experiences of the Second World War and perhaps the nostalgic atmosphere of Dobrowolski’s work can be explained, in part at least, by this time of self-sacrifice and ‘make-do and mend’. There is a sense of a wider message, as Colin Painter has suggested of Dobrowolski: ‘...he has the capacity to combine celebration with uncertainty; humour with speculation, the ridiculous with the profound’. This is an exhibition to laugh at – but there is room for contemplation too.
  • Home
  • in the art gallery
    • Transit Transition >
      • Train Wave
      • The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
      • Self Evaluation
      • something About Global Capitalism But Less Ernest
      • The Man From Human Resources Is Coming to See You
      • The Ofsted Inspection
      • The Risk Assessment
      • Personal development training day
      • My Matchbox Toy Lorry
      • The Zero Hours Contract
      • The Plinth
    • Remnants Of Utopia >
      • Austerity Miniature Mayday Parade
      • The Contract
      • Agitprop/anti-agitprop Train
      • Siberia
      • How We Won The War
      • Revolutionary Reminder
      • The Marketing Team
    • Antarctica >
      • Project Outline
      • Antarctica Essay
      • Reviews
      • Sledge
      • Toy Sledge
      • Airfix Antarctic Aeroplane Hoover
      • Eating Penguins
      • The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
      • Toy Snowmobile
      • Rat Box, Bird Island
      • Rejection Letters
      • The Last Roll Of Kodachrome In The World
      • John Deere Gator And Specimen
      • There Are No More Dogs In Antarctica
      • Furthest South- J C B
      • Captain Scotts Bookshelf
      • Antarctic Toy Portraits
    • Landscape, Seascape, Skyscape , Escape >
      • Seascape Escape (No.1)
      • Landscape Escape (No.1)
      • Seascape Escape (No.2)
      • Timescape Escape
      • Landscape Escape (No.2) >
        • Sketches for Tank
      • Skyscape Escape
      • Essay/ Catalogue >
        • Introduction
        • Seascape Escape
        • Landscape Escape No. 1
        • Seascape Escape No.2
        • Landscape Escape No.2
        • Skyscape Escape
        • Timescape Escape
        • End-Piece
      • Reviews and Press
    • Offer Must End Soon >
      • Essay Jess Twyman
      • Reviews
      • Offer Must End Soon
      • Buy My Painting!
      • "Buy My Painting!" For the hard of hearing.
      • "Don't Make Me Take It All Back Home With Me!"
      • How We Won The War
      • "Stop me and buy one!"
      • 'The Cornfield'... free gift inside
      • "Catalogue!"
      • The Contemporary Art Scene
      • Camera Crash
      • "Untitled" hanging itself
      • Buy My Fucking Painting!
      • Absolut Ship !
      • Executive Toy!
      • Art Stunt Suicide Disaster
      • Roll up, Roll up. Get your Art here!
    • Big Country >
      • Big Country
      • The box you stick your head into
      • Europa, Hoek van Holland to Vladivostok
      • Caravans
      • magazine article
    • All at Sea
    • & Model >
      • Reviews
    • Give Me The Money
    • Music and domestic appliances >
      • Sketch for aeroplane
      • The Plinth
      • Cold War Monument
      • Wagon Wheels
      • Vacuum Cleaner Circle
    • ...on the wall...in boxes >
      • My Shitty Studio No.2
      • Sketch for aeroplane No.6
      • Landscape, Seascape, Skyscape, Fire Escape
      • My horrible studio No.1
      • Untitled 240 Volts
      • On the way to the beach party
      • Toy Me No.2
      • It's for you
    • Sweet Jars, glass cases on books >
      • Thatcher
      • The council estate is coming
      • Attack drone and books
      • Muck Spreader
      • Trojan Horse
      • Security Camera
      • Move
      • Epsom Printer, Tank, God
      • Contemporary art- its the law!
      • Tank Caravans Paint Brush
      • Buy to Let
      • Section 21
  • On The Stage
    • All Roads Lead To Rome >
      • Project outline
      • reviews
    • Antarctica >
      • Project Outline
      • Reviews
    • Poland 3 Iran 2 >
      • Project Outline
      • Reviews
    • Landscape, Seascape, Skyscape , Escape >
      • Project Outline
      • Reviews
      • tours and extra stuff
    • How NOT to make a living as an Artist
    • Toy Stories
  • Outside the art gallery
    • Auspicious Phoenix Recycling Palace
    • Covid lockdown with Boris >
      • Boris zip wire
      • Covidtrix
      • what is the truth but a lie agreed upon
    • Goat Train
    • washed up Car - go >
      • Project Outline
      • Reviews
      • 'EK52 UDP'
      • 'VK02 GFK'
      • 'Y194 LPP'
      • Washed Up Car-go (Hastings)
      • Washed Up Car- go (Brighton)
    • Vanishing Point >
      • Project Outline
      • Reviews
      • Red Sports Car, East To West
      • Studebaker Camera Car, Going To The Beach
      • Kite And Candy, Buick
      • Kennedy Lincoln Continental
      • Ambulance Emergency
      • Pink Mustang, at the Golden Gate Bridge
      • Matchbox
      • Instant Gratification
    • Badgast Residency >
      • Short Essay
      • De Wrede Zee
      • Fish
      • Chips
      • Windmill
      • Panorama Mesdag
    • Selfie Slot Car Racing >
      • Project Outline
      • Film by Andy Wiltshire
      • Librarian Pit Crew
      • Experiments with sound
      • Selfie Slot Car Racing at Firstsite Gallery
      • Flitwick Library
    • Coventry Transport Museum Residency >
      • Coventry Concept
      • Poetry Vending Machine
    • Cheap Cheap >
      • Review
    • A Portrait of Casper DeBoer
    • Cranes
    • Hessle Road Residency >
      • Hessle Road (continued)
    • Reisbureau Mareado >
      • Mareado (Continued)
      • City magazine review
    • Windmills >
      • Aerial, wind, sun and radio
      • Guitar Played by the Wind >
        • Winners and Losers
      • Self Portrait
      • Jesus punches banker
    • Performance Sculptures >
      • The groundsman
      • All seeing bicycle lamp
      • Pasta 4 one
      • Revolutionary Reminder
  • publications
    • Solo projects >
      • Escape >
        • Read an Extract
      • Antarctica
      • Offer Must End Soon
      • Tangents
      • Landscape, Seascape, Skyscape , Escape
      • Aerial, wind, sun and radio
    • Group Projects >
      • oceans
      • Talk to me
      • & Model
      • Middlesbrough Art Weekender
      • Translating the Street
      • 1st Sino/british Cont. Art, Yentai
      • Performance, Transport And Mobility
      • Inbetween PS1, New York and Shanghai
      • Odd Coupling
      • Landscapes of Exploration
      • Flip Shift Show Switch
      • Baudrillard Now
      • The Juddykes
      • Dr Roberts Magic Bus
      • Continental Breakfast
      • Lat (living Apart Together)
      • North. Amsterdam 2004
      • Westwijk, Vlaardingen, De Strip
      • Da Da Da Strategies Against Marketecture
      • Reisburo Mareado (The Travel Brochure)
      • Catalogus Mareado
      • Kunst Over De Grens
      • This Flat Earth
      • The Uses of an Artist
      • Kettles Yard Open 97
      • Royal College Of Art Centenary Year
      • Millennium Encyclopedia
    • Press
  • About / contact
    • Biog
    • CV >
      • Solo Exhibitions
      • Live Art
      • Residencies / Commissions
      • Group Exhibitions
      • Education
      • Career History
      • Media Coverage
    • Contact
    • are you on the right website?