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"posłowie/epilogue- Katarzyna Józefowicz

14.10.09 10:54:00

Katarzyna Józefowicz – "posłowie/epilogue"
21 November 2009- 8 January 2010, Gdańska Galeria Miejska 1 (ggm1)/Gdańsk City Gallery
Opening: 21 November 2009, 7 p.m.
Closing: 8 January 2010, 7 p.m. - performance by Amareya Theatre
Curator: Grażyna Tomaszewska -Sobko
Meetings with the curator: Saturday 28 November 2009, 1 p.m. ( for schools) and Friday 18 December, 6 p.m.

Katarzyna Józefowicz is a well known and respected professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. She has won many artistic awards, but above all, Katarzyna Józefowicz is a great sculptor.

In her works she usually organizes the space by turning objects that are full of energy and anxiety into neutral, warm and cosy places. Creating these works is very time-consuming for the artist, but she treats the monotony of the process as if it was some kind of creative trance and meditation.
The artist often uses materials that were left to be recycled: cardboard, old magazines and especially newspapers, which are the main material of her latest project.
In “posłowie”/”epilogue” exhibition in Gdańsk City Gallery 1 ( Gdańska Galeria Miejska 1) Katarzyna Józefowicz shows her latest installation. She cut out random words out of the newspapers and stuck them together in ornament sequences. Words taken out of their original context and stuck together lose their ominous power. The emotions that they once carried are lost and bad information or brazen commercials charm us only with their decorative form, not the previous meaning.

Katarzyna Józefowicz was born in 1959 in Lublin. She graduated from The Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. She's had individual exhibitions in: BWA Gallery in Bydgoszcz (1996), Foksal Gallery (2001), Foksal Gallery Foundation in Warsaw (2002 and 2005), Arsenal Gallery in Białystok (2003), Platán Gallery in Budapest (2006), Wozownia Gallery (2007), CSW Łaźnia in Gdańsk (2007). She also took part in group exhibitions such as: Public Relations in CSW Łaźnia in Gdańsk (1999), II Berlin Biennale (2001), Biennale of Sydney (2002), Decade in CSW Zamek Ujazdowski in Warsaw, Architectures of Gender in Sculpture Centre in New York, Bewitched Bothered Bewildered in Migros Museum in Zurich (2003), Biennale in Łódź (2004), “W Polsce czyli gdzie?/ In Poland, where?”, in CSW Zamek Ujazdowski in Warsaw, Ideal City - Invisible Cities in Zamość and Potsdam (2006).
She's won many prizes and scholarships, such as: Gold Medal in Triennale of Fabric in Łódź (2001), The City of Gdańsk Culture Prize ( 2002) and Polityka's Passport (2001).
She is a professor in The Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. She lives in Gdańsk.

Amareya Theatre ( “amareya” in old Japanese- heroic devotion, unconditional sacrifice) is a theatre of  body and motion. It was founded in 2003 by Agnieszka Kamińska, Katarzyna Julia Pastuszak and Aleksandra Śliwińska. Since then it has been functioning by Klub “Winda” – Gdański Archipelag Kultury/ Gdańsk Archipelago of Culture.
The theatre specializes in three types of activities: artistic- its own shows, theatrical projects and  performances; didactic- buto dance workshops, dance-theatre workshops, vocal and motion workshops, lectures and publications on dance and theatre, and finally culture animation.

"from dialog to goliad" Dominika Skutnik and Henrik Eiben

13.10.09 17:17:00

Dominika Skutnik i Henrik Eiben "from dialog to goliad"
3 October- 13 November 2009, ggm1
Curator: Iwona Bigos
Opening: 2 October 2009 at 7 p.m. , Aleksandra Staniszewska's fashion show "flirt mody ze sztuką"/ “fashion's flirt with art”
Closing: 13 November 2009, at 7 p.m. , performance by Nora Volkova
Fashion show's curator: Anna Tomaszewska

The exhibition titled “from dialog to goliad” made of Dominika Skutnik's and Henrik Eiben's works is a second exhibition of  the “Dialogues” series ( the first one was “lost in colour- dialog 1” by Nicholas Bodde and Jaroslaw Flicinski).
This time it is a artistic tangle with Goliat(d)- the space. Skutnik and Eiben create objects-installations that have a common starting point- the effort to determine the multidimensionality
Henrik's works are rather painterly, soft and minimalistic objects, whereas Dominika's installations interact with and modify the given space. Often acquiring monumental forms, they are always strongly connected with the place in which and for which they are created.
“from dialog to goliad” is a collective project constructed especially for ggm1 interior. It is a dialogue which the artists conduct between each other, the viewers and the space itself.
Aleksandra Staniszewska's fashion show titled “fashion's flirt with art” which will be shown in the gallery's courtyard is also a part of the dialogue.

Dominika Skutnik ( born in 1971 in Gdańsk) graduated from the Faculty of Painting and Graphics in Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. She lives and works in Gdańsk.
Henrik Eiben ( born in 1975 in Tokio)  graduated from Art Schools in Holland, USA and Germany. He lives and works in Hamburg, Germany.

“Fashion flirtation” by Aleksandra Staniszewska
The main idea of the show is a “flirt” between fashion and art. Aleksandra Staniszewska's collection is inspired by Henrik Eiben's works. The fashion designer enters the dialogue with the artist and borrows some motifs and patterns from his works. She combines various materials, shapes and textures. She juxtaposes ortalion with cotton, satin and lycra. Streamlined clothes remain in contrast with tight leggings or trousers. Also the colours of the designs allude to Eiben's works- black and pastels colours mix throughout the whole collection. The characteristic feature linking both artists is the fact that they draw their inspiration form abstraction and simple forms which relate do Japanese stylistics. The fashion designer will accessorize her collection with jewellery that takes inspiration from Dominika Skutnik's installations. They are designed for daring and distinctive women, who are open to art.

Photos by Marek Frankowski

 

Tabularium- Jan de Weryha-Wysoczański

12.10.09 16:40:00

Jan de Weryha-Wysoczański "Tabularium"
21 August 2009 – 25 September 2009, Gdańska Galeria Miejska 1/Gdańsk City Gallery 1 (ggm1)
Curator: Grażyna Tomaszewska-Sobko
Opening: 21 August 2009, 7 p.m.
Closing: 25 September 2009, 7 p.m.

Jan de Weryha-Wysoczański was born in 1950 in Gdańsk. In 1976 he graduated from Faculty of Sculpture in the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. Since 1981 he lives and works in Hamburg, Germany. “Tabularium” is his first exhibition in his hometown since his departure.
The exhibition titled "Tabularium" consists of a few large-scale wooden objects. The artist says that he chose wood as a material for a reason. - It is made by Nature and somehow after its death it becomes alive again- he explaines.
Jan de Weryha-Wysoczański brings wood back to life in a specific way. He shapes, divides and arranges it with extreme care and caution to preserve structure and material characteristics. He concentrates on the nature of wood and doesn't let any narration in.
Artist's geometrical objects are usually classified as minimal art. But is it correct? The objects are not soulless, abstract forms that only play with space, scale and mutual tension. Wysoczański's objects are geometrically arranged, but they also have wild nature forms, smell and uniqueness of each element.
What characterises Artist's work the most is that he uses the material, that is brought to him by Nature itself. The Nature breaks the trees, pulls them out with their roots and allows them to live in a new form.
More about Jan de Weryha-Wysoczański can be found on his website: www.de-weryha-art.de

Photos by: Grażyna Tomaszewska, Marek Frankowski.

Lost in colour-dialogue 1- Jarosław Fliciński and Nicholas Bodde

12.10.09 15:54:00

"Lost in colour – dialogue 1" Jarosław Flciński and Nicholas Bodde

29 May 2009-31 July 2009, ggm1

curator: Iwona Bigos

opening: 29 May 2009. 7 p.m.

closing: 31 July 2009, 7 p.m.

The subject of the first dialogue are colour as a means of expression and colourful composition in architectural space. Both artists create works which refer to the tradition of concrete art. Space is the point of departure, yet each artist makes use of it in a different manner. Bodde’s paintings are limited by space. It is the format that dictates the arrangement of horizontal lines. On the other hand, Fliciński’s painting crosses the boundaries of the format, becoming a part of architecture, as well as conforms to the established reality, exploiting the specificity of light and space.
The presented works were created especially for this exhibition - Fliciński created his right in the gallery, whereas Bodde’s triptych was inspired by Hans Memling’s The Last Judgement, from the National Museum in Gdańsk.

Artists:

Nicholas Bodde describes himself as an artist creating in the tradition of constructivism. The format of his paintings dictates the arrangement of horizontal lines. At first, these were vertical compositions in the ratio 1 : 2.33, which is the typical door size in English houses. Later on, the artist started making use of other geometrical figures, such as oval or circle, in which he encloses the realities of the arranged colourful spaces. However, in Bodde’s paintings not construction but colour plays the most important role. The rules are simple: there are no repetitions of colours within one work. The tension between particular colourful spaces is created by their juxtaposition, intensification and structure. And that is the source of their unique character.


Jarosław Fliciński is a painter of space. His paintings often transgress the frames and subordinate to the established architectural structure, annexing it at the same time. In this way they become a colourful part of the existing reality. Colour and its dependence on light create another dimension. Those geometrical pictorial installations totally alter our perception. Fliciński’s works allow for unlimited and non-stereotypical interpretations, no matter whether they are painted directly on the wall, on an aluminium board or canvas. Every time they are an attempt to go beyond, to touch different time and space. It is pure painting.   

Photos by Marek Frankowski

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