AMBIENCE XVII

Uroš Potočnik

1974, Slovenj Gradec; živi v Belih vodah nad Šoštanjem, Slovenija

Workers, 2014

acrylic on canvas

Two workers by Uroš Potočnik is a direct comment on the well-known painting The Stone Breakers (Les Casseurs de pierre) by French painter Gustave Courbet (1819–1877). A staunch socialist, Courbet displayed this work to draw attention to the difficult conditions faced by the European working class in his day. His painting, destroyed during World War II and only known through photographs, depicted two workers, one old and worn out, the other still half a child, breaking stones on the road. By juxtaposing the youth and the old man, Courbet openly pointed to the vicious circle of repetition through generation after generation in which workers were trapped in his time, as well as to the fact that both workers were, by reason of their respective ages, unsuited to their gruelling labour. According to the painter, The Stone Breakers were a perfect expression of human suffering.

Potočnik adapted the original motif by Courbet, while retaining the posture of the kneeling worker and his face hidden in the shadow cast by his hat. Transposed into the present day, wearing a uniform, helmet and gloves, Potočnik’s worker offers a non-spectacular depiction of back-breaking labour and of the most exploited class of labourers. At the same time, the painting also draws attention to the issue of representation of reality, so often manipulated and artificially constructed through mass media.