MACHCINSKI – BERST
Created in collaboration with the Tomasz Machciński Foundation, the first solo show dedicated to Tomasz Machciński at the Christian Berst Art Brut Gallery features his photographic self-portraits. It covers five decades of his immense artistic practice, which remained private until now. The artist’s entire life has been nurtured by the American dream and fueled by two powerful illusions that have given meaning to his life: the magic of the screen and the perpetual quest for true maternal love.
I made it all because of you wrote Tomasz Machciński in one of the dozens of letters sent to actress Joan Tompkins. A rising star in Hollywood, the actress saw a photograph of Tomasz as a bedridden child in a Red Cross catalog. This catalog listed war orphans available for distant adoption. She then sent a letter to Tomasz with one of her film photos, which she signed With love for Tommy. Joan ‘Mom’ Tompkins. For Tomasz, born in 1942 in a small war-torn Polish village, this began an ambiguous relationship that transcended borders, decades, and social classes.