Dominik Lejman's painting is matter given form—canvas brought to life through acrylics and pigments. Then, images are projected onto the canvas, and suddenly something happens, emerging from another time into our own: the work unites material presence with spectral projection and absence. His art moves toward a stupendous coexistence of presence and absence—an uncanny embrace. This book follows the exhibition "Phantoms" at St. Matthäus Kirche in Berlin. The contributions place Lejman's work within an art-historical, philosophical, and socially critical context, addressing today's ubiquitous virtualization and the pervasive loss of trust in our ability to grasp the present.

Dominik Lejman (born 1969) studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk and at the Royal College of Art in London. He has won numerous Polish and international awards, including the Paszport Polityki Award (2001) and the Berlin Art Prize (2018).