| We do not know much about the life of this man who
tried to escape society as much as possible. He never went beyond elementary
school. As an adult, he runs a little store, which is seized by the Germans
in 1942. Convinced that the Nazis are coming to arrest him, he takes refuge
at his brother's in Wozuczyn, a small town in the province of Lublin. He
hides in the attic and avoids any interaction with those around him. His
fears, justified or not, become the excuse to his self-confinement. Edmund
Monsiel will remain in that attic for twenty years until he dies of influenza
in 1962. |
| About five hundred drawings will be discovered after
his death. His work is "inspired" by traditional, popular and religious
iconography. Can one talk about inspiration when referring to a work that
is so closed onto itself? An ever-present and obsessive face, a scrutinizing
look to the side, the same face repeated over and over, indefinitely...
Every millimeter of the page is covered with an image. It is everything,
the composition, the theme, the background, the "inspiration" and also the
shape, the light, the shadows, the blacks and the greys. It is as if everything
boils down to this one image, or worse, as if he had between his fingers,
and in his mind, this one image only. It is an amazing but terrifying skill
to be able to say everything with one image. Is it strength to be able to
do everything, or to do only one thing? What makes one drawing by Monsiel
different from another drawing by Monsiel? Nothing, except a different setting
for the same drawing. The eyes are no longer spies; they have become the
subject. There is no room for observation, threat, fear or judgment. Complete
surrender, total vampirisation. The image has become Edmund Monsiel himself,
all tied up, frozen and taken over. |
