Numbers, 1975

The question of multiplicity, already present in the earlier works, became the main focus of the “Numbers” series. Bakowski employed a method analogous to that seen in “The Old Town”, “Rose”, “Ball” or “Marek” series, which consisted in cutting the photographic prints and montaging them into new compositions. In this case the artist began with nine photographs of nine numbers, each of them reproduced for a number of times equal to the value of the photographed number, that is: 1-one time, 2-two times, 3-three times, etc. up till 9 which was reproduced nine times. Then, using cut fragments of prints of each number, Bakowski arranged them into plates in which the numbers appeared to be pulsating and trembling.