opening: December 1th, 2023 at 7 PM
exhibition: 01.12 – 22.12.2023
organizator:
partner:
place: Galeria Piekary
ul. Św. Marcin 80/82
CK Zamek, Dziedziniec Różany
61-809 Poznań
exhibition open Monday – Friday 10 AM – 6 PM
admission always free
media patronage:
Tomasz Ciecierski was born in 1945 in Kraków, but his career would be associated with Warsaw, where he graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in 1971. Just one year later, he became an assistant lecturer at the studio of Krystyna Łada-Studnicka, where he had earlier defended his diploma. At present, the artist still lives and works in Warsaw. He is a co-founder of the Pendzle art group.
Tomasz Ciecierski. Aut of Mind features collages from three series created between 2021 and 2023: Aut of Mind, Ad Hoc and Neopop, as well as several self-standing works. The title alone already reveals the characteristics of these pieces: they are hasty notes that follow the flow of the stream of consciousness, subject to no constraints. The extra-rational nature admits the possibility of errors in the notation which, if deemed intriguing enough, are pursued further by the author. The works may be recent, yet it would not be difficult to discern two motifs which have fascinated Ciecierski previously, namely everyday objects and materials that were originally part of a larger whole. Seeking to amalgamate and express such interests, the artist opted for the collage, a specific form which combines elements of constructivism and pop art; Neopop in particular is a singular commentary on the ubiquitous popular culture. Ciecierski’s collages are compelling indeed as animated characters, furniture, pipe gaskets and kitchen appliances appear alongside news from the morning papers (often in foreign languages!) and mysterious texts with poetic overtones. This confuses the viewer, because isolated from their usual context, the objects and the characters—or perhaps their archetypes?— compel us to ask questions: what role do they actually play in everyday life? What purpose do they serve? How does their form affect the content of our lives?
Collage is a kind of patchwork structure on which the artist has drawn almost from the beginning of his artistic career, since as early as the 1970s he would delve into painting itself, attempting to uncover its essence in his artistic reflections. Such themes were manifested by the painting artefacts he depicted—brushes, canvases, paints—whereas the materials used included postcards, pages from a calendar and fragments of other paintings. The collages of recent years carry on that line of inquiry in an interdisciplinary form, as Ciecierski also applies the medium of photography and exploits language.
Ciecierski quickly gained international recognition. The 1980s saw him collaborate with the Wetering Galerie in Amsterdam, with which he is still affiliated today, as well as with the Foksal Gallery and Galerie Hans Strelow in Dusseldorf. His works have been exhibited at Warsaw’s Zachęta, Kunst-und Ausstellungshalle in Bonn, Third Eye Centre in Glasgow and at numerous other galleries and museums. He blazed his artistic trail during internships and creative stays in France, the United States, Germany and the Netherlands. In 1999, the artist received the Jan Cybis Award. Ciecierski tends to be referred to as an academic who has chosen to remain outside the academia, a classic mentioned in major encyclopaedias, a painterly authority, a witness to history. Still, what counts most for the painter is his individuality, the freedom from any influence.
Project co-financed by the City of Poznań
