Artur Żmijewski – 1966, Warsaw, Poland / Paweł Althamer, 1967, Warsaw, Poland
Untitled (from the series Polish School of Collage), 2022
Collage and acrylic on cardboard, 100 x 70 cm
Acquisition: Gift by the artists
Reference: 05260
In their personal artistic careers, Artur Żmijewski and Paweł Althamer, are among the most renowned Polish artists. During a joint residency in Japan in 2017, they began to work occasionally on joint projects of a similar nature, which involved making spontaneously generated collages using various illustrated art, medical, historical, and other magazines or books. The collaborative project “Polish School of Collage”, was realized as a residency from July 1 to 15, 2022, and took place in one of the gallery spaces of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Skopje, according to the already established hourly schedule, as in the rest of their projects, i.e. every day from 2 pm until around midnight and most of the time with the presence of museum visitors. During those two weeks of working together, the artists created multiple collages on cardboard using acrylic paints and photo-cuts. Visitors were invited to bring some of these materials, thereby contributing to the creation of the works. The result of this process is a series of 30 collages with clippings from history books, art magazines, geographic atlases, maps, posters, photographs, educational charts, medical illustrations etc. These thickly layered images can be seen as references to the theme of the medieval “dance macabre” and to events or some general significance absorbed from the local (historical) context. The works were finally exhibited at the same gallery of the Museum of Contemporary Art Skopje from 14. July to 25. August 2022: msu.mk/exhibition/artur-zmijewski
Biographies
Artur Żmijewski (1966) is a visual artist based in Warsaw, with a rich artistic career, who is focused on creating installations, composed of photography, film and video. In his works, he exposes the world of “others”, who often go unnoticed, insisting on the conscious participation of art in social life. He records their everyday life, showing how physical and mental limitations condemn these people to be marginalized in society. Through experiments with the participation of selected groups, he tries to understand difficult experiences and taboo topics. He has exhibited at some of the most important art events, such as the Venice Biennale and Documenta in Kassel, and he was the curator of the Berlin Biennale in 2012. His works are included in the collections of some of the most renowned art institutions in the world, such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Tate Modern in London, and the Neue Pinakothek in Munich.
Paweł Althamer (1967) is a visual artist based in Warsaw. He works in different media such as sculpture, performance, installation, video, and apart from the media, his works are also diverse in terms of form. He creates sculptural self-portraits, appears in performance and video, seeking to experience the materiality of the body and define his own mental boundaries. Through actions involving entire communities, he wants to create social communities, confronting people through art. He questions the meaning of monumental monuments according to the scale of his works and the randomness of his materials. In his works he also references Beuys’ social sculpture and the legacy of Oskar Hansen’s ‘Open Form. He can also be described as an artist with an affinity for ‘relational aesthetics’. He participated in the most important art exhibitions, including Documenta 10 (1997), the Venice Biennale (2003, 2013), the Berlin Biennale (2012), Skulptur Projekte Münster (2017). He has also won numerous awards, such as the biennial Vincent van Gogh Prize for Contemporary Art in Europe in 2004.
1940, Szewna, Poland
Intention, 1976
Photomontage and offset print on paper, 41 x 81,5 cm
Edition: 6/30; inscription b.l. Avtoofset “Intention” – 16/30-1976; b.r. J. Treliński
Acquisition: Gift
Reference: 02833
1894, Warsaw, Poland – 1988, Warsaw, Poland
Composition, 1964
Acrylic on plywood, 66 x 40 x 6 cm
Acquisition: Gift
Reference: 00334
Biography
Henryk Stażewski (pronounced: /stəʒɛfskiː/ STa-zhef-skee; 9 January 1894 – 10 June 1988) was a Polish painter, visual artist and writer. Stażewski has been described as the “father of the Polish avant-garde” and is considered a pivotal figure in the history of constructivism and geometric abstraction in Central and Eastern Europe.
This introduction to the biography is from Wikipedia under an Attribution-ShareAlike Creative Commons License
Entire entry at wikipedia.org/wiki/Henryk_Stażewski
1921, Włocławku, Poland – 2000, Aleksandrów Kujawski, Poland
Boats, 1959
Aquatint on paper, 45 x 54,5 cm
Edition: 23/30; inscription: b.l: Lodiu 23/30; b.r.: Barbara Narebska Debska 1959
Acquisition: Gift
Reference: 00342
1931, Warsaw, Poland
The Nile Bird, 1964
Etching on paper, 66 x 50 cm
Edition: a.p.; b.l: Е.А.; b.m: Oiseau du Vil; b.r.: B.Kwasniewska
Acquisition: Gift
Reference: 00804
1928, Vilnius, Lithuania – 2020, Suwałki, Poland
Ships, 1962
Oil on board, 40 x 100 cm
Acquisition: Gift
Reference: 01180
Biography
Strumillo studied at the State Higher School of Visual Arts in Łódź between 1945 and 1947 under the supervision of Władysław Strzemiński. When the academy changed its profile to one focused more on applied arts, he moved to Kraków. He received his diploma in 1950 at the Faculty of Painting of the Academy of Fine Arts. He belonged to the Self-Taught Group (Grupa Samokształceniowa) led by Andrzej Wróblewski (together with Andrzej Wajda, Jan Tarasin, Walerian Borowczyk and others).
The short introduction to Strumillo’s biography is from culture.pl/en/artist/andrzej-strumillo
