Monika Szpener (born 1979), Pikaczu, 2021

Synthetic resin, 56 x 45 x 50 cm, signed by the author, ed. 1/9

The Pokemons series are sculptures of politicians depicted in the guise of characters from the popular game. In this realization, the artist assumes that the current populist world of politics is a deeply media and simulated reality, constructed on the model of pop culture products such as comic books and computer games. It has no room for nuance, discussion, doubt and reflection, and above all, engagement with difficult social issues. Instead, there are two opposing sides of the conflict: thickly drawn characters with Internet memes instead of human faces.
The animalistic way of depicting powerful political figures is part of a long tradition of zoomorphic depictions of the ruler, from mannerist bizarre to TV's Polish Zoo. The Pokemony series can be seen as a contemporary version of this tradition relating to politics treated in terms of media spectacle. In the pages of Przekroj, Stach Szabłowski wrote about the series as follows: "Powerful politicians, transformed by the artist into grotesque creatures, look funny, but in fact there is nothing to laugh at here, unless we feel like mocking ourselves."