Wilhelm Sasnal

In the graphic shades of white, black, and gray typical of his work at this time, Sasnal has depicted a figure from a striking perspective. The painting is based on a photograph the artist took of his wife, Anka, while he lay on the floor. The image is intimate yet superficial, as all identifying characteristics have been removed. In this way, Untitled (Anka) is more like a landscape than a personal portrait, and it exemplifies Sasnal's ability to paint diverse subject matter with equal indifference. He has remarked, "It . . . sometimes happens that subject matter which seems the least suitable for a painting, or for art in general for that matter, is the most interesting."
Born in Poland, where he still works, Sasnal is a prolific painter with a chameleonlike facility with a paintbrush. He draws his imagery from newspapers, comic strips, celebrity publicity shots, and his own photographs, among other sources, and he also makes films. He is as likely to be experimenting with abstraction as with figuration, creating portraits or depicting objects and scenes from everyday life. Sasnal’s myriad approaches to painting (including references to Pop, socialist realism, and abstraction) make up a restless practice that investigates what painting can be.