Art: Marek Tobolewski – Continuum in Symmetry

By mark patterson

ONE of the most common remarks Marek Tobolewski hears about his paintings is, "I like them, but I don't know why." Some people have called them "spaghetti-doodles" while others see recognisable shapes in his abstract, sinuous lines.

This is particularly true of his newer symmetrical drawings and paintings, many of which have gone on show in Tobolewski's new solo exhibition at Djanogly Art Gallery, his first in his Nottingham home town since 1994.

"People have said they see anatomical features and phallic symbolism in them," he says. "I always say 'you can read what you want into them'."

However, one thing Tobolewski's paintings are not are random doodles; they are meticulously planned in advance on paper using compasses and other draughtsman's tools.

The paintings themselves can then take up to a year to complete. Neither are they symbolic of anything in particular.

On the contrary, Tobolewski's artworks are liberatingly abstract, freeing the viewer from the obligation to locate a hidden story.

But nor should they be thought of as mere exercises in form and presentation. Tobolewski describes them as "cerebral" – each painting being a variation in an endless experiment in what you can do with the most basic artistic statement there is – a mark or line on a flat surface.

They are also surprisingly warm and sensual; the curves and lines themselves recall (for me) women's curves while, up close, the textures of different surface qualities are revealed: the grain of wood, linen, paper, grooves and indentations.

"I hope they take you on a journey," says Tobolewski.

"I'm not trying to get you to understand why I've made them. I think those are 'artists' questions' and I'm still trying to understand what they're about. But hopefully they do take you on some sort of narrative story."

Tobolewski (his parents are Polish) came to Nottingham from Brighton in the 1980s, helping to found the Oldknows Factory artists' studio complex.

When most of the studios were closed last year, he moved to CAN studio close to Sneinton market. However, after the current show at the Djanogly gallery was agreed, he was also offered a residency at the adjacent Lakeside Arts Centre and many of the symmetrical works currently on show are the result of this.

Tobolewski imposes strict rules of composition on himself: there are no straight lines; every line is part of a continuous circle and every line connects back with itself, even though parts of it disappear off the surface of the painting into a space that has to be imagined.

The Djanogly Art Gallery exhibition can be seen until June 13.