Wysocka / Pogo

Magdalena Wysocka and Claudio Pogo Magdalena Wysocka [b.1987, Poland] and Claudio Pogo [b.1978, Germany] are a Berlin based artist duo who have been working together since 2016. With backgrounds in printmaking and photography, their work bridges a variety of related mediums, from large-scale printed canvas works to handmade photobooks. Their practice is centred around collecting and re-contextualising found imagery.

Material is sourced from vintage photographs, books and other archives, stripped of its original context and transformed to create new visual narratives. Wysocka and Pogo utilise Risography, a Japanese stencil printing technique from the 1960’s, to express this reinterpretation. They purposefully push the risograph’s boundaries heightening the elements of chance and unpredictability in the finished pieces. Their canvases become a beautiful and uniquely tangible reflection on the passage of time and context, as well as machine-made replication vs. hand-made interpretation.

Fascinated by the aesthetics and possibilities found in Risograph printing, Wysocka / Pogo’s practise quickly turned to harnessing its potential. Perfecting their process over the past decade. Allowing the ‘mistakes’ or natural imperfections of their practise, the unpredictability of the inks and materials used, to take centre stage. These moments of chaos add so much to the aesthetic and help the artists to reclaim and reinvent the archival / found images they use for each artwork. It’s this playful experimentation and curiosity which goes to the heart of their practise. Constantly pushing the possibilities of their practise and, coupled with their journalistic instincts, uncovering fascinating and obscure stories in the process.

After nearly a decade of private exploration and a number of award winning books, the prolific duo have now begun producing large scale, unique artworks utilising their secretive process for the first time.

Blind Field • Wysocka / Pogo solo exhibition [INSTALLATION]