For ARCO Madrid 2025, Harlan Levey Projects is pleased to present a solo of new works by Marcin Dudek.
Marcin Dudek’s work is shaped by traces of the past; his practice is deeply autobiographical, drawing from his turbulent youth to explore broader social conditions – poverty, institutional failure, community, and resilience.
The past, for Dudek, is not fixed. Memories can be unearthed and rewritten, a process often used in the treatment of post-traumatic stress. As he delves into his personal archive, Dudek confronts moments of distress and danger, transforming them into new forms and releasing them from within. One material in particular highlights the healing aspect of this practice: medical tape. Coated in paint and photographs, the tape is then dissected and reassembled in Dudek’s distinctive, energetic visual language. Other materials range from personal photos and found footage to a variety of objects, many neglected or discarded, each carrying its own history – from second-hand textiles to a disassembled tour bus. These objects are treated in a way that mirrors the artist’s own emotional journey.
Despite the adversity, there is joy in his work. Throughout his pieces, Dudek celebrates the endurance and strength found in kinship, the bonds formed through spontaneous rituals, and the beauty of the people who come in and out of his life. This is not a tale of victimhood, but a meditation on the complexity of the human experience, with all its light and shadow. Together, the works trace a journey from impoverished housing blocks to a thriving artistic career – an ongoing story of survival and transformation; stadiums, spectacles, scars and healing.
