For several years Rafał Bujnowski has worked on curating a private residential center for artists on Fuerteventura, in the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. The artist’s latest initiative is the exhibition A Girl and a Gun, curated by Katarzyna Karwańska especially for the interior of the historic Casa de los Coroneles (from 18th century) in La Oliva, in the northern part of the island.
The immediate inspiration for the exhibition was the quip by Jean-Luc Godard, “All you need to make a film is a girl and a gun.” Sex and violence, dominance and submission, are the conceptual pairings which the works selected for presentation in the colonial spaces of Casa de los Coroneles revolve around. In addition to new, multi-part paintings by Bujnowski, the exhibition also features works by Miriam Cahn, Youssouf Dara (featuring Paweł Althamer and Daria Giwer), Gustav Deutsch, Marie Fahlin, Władysław Grygny, Celina Kanunnikava, Konrad Kwasek, Iwona Mysera, Jadwiga Sawicka, Bruno Schulz, Santiago Sierra and Grzegorz Sztwiertnia. Bujnowski’s special, personal contribution is his handmade frames for works by Bruno Schulz—the most important artist for Rafał in his youth.
The exhibition is designed as the first in a series of exhibitions of recent art launched at Bujnowski’s initiative to mark each new year at Casa de los Coroneles. As the organizers write, “This is the launch of an artistic program focused on exploitation of the incredible architectural merits of the building and its desert setting, and an attempt to create a contemporary art scene far from bustling art centers.”
Pictured above is a scene from the exhibition, with paintings by Bujnowski in the foreground, works by Celina Kanunnikava in the background.