ARTISTS
Who is Janina W臋grzynowska?
This exhibition was born out of a need to tell the stories of artists whose lives and works are fascinating, but who have found themselves outside the 鈥榓rt circuit,鈥� and thus remain unnoticed. The project began with 鈥淕rey-Orange Painting鈥� (1979) by Janina W臋grzynowska (1930-2010), which is in the Galeria Studio Collection. During preparation for the Collection鈥檚 exhibition in 2021, curator Paulina Olszewska became interested in the op-art composition and its author, about whom only scraps of information could be found.
The figure of Janina W臋grzynowska, an artist associated with Warsaw, seems to duplicate the biographies of many women active in the field of art in the 20th century, in Poland and around the world. They are often characterized by innovative and progressive thinking about art and an interdisciplinarity across many fields. They were, and in some cases still are, experimental and committed artists, working intensely for most of their lives. And yet they often exist outside of the mainstream, without sufficient support or adequate opportunity for their talent to be apparent. In turn, after death, their work, often left unattended, is condemned to dispersal or destruction, and thus to oblivion.
Our story about W臋grzynowska and her art involves, among other things, initiating a dialogue with contemporary artists. The curator has invited people from different backgrounds, working in various media and art fields, to draw attention to the topicality of W臋grzynowska鈥檚 practice and put it back into artistic circulation. An important aspect of this approach is to surround the artist with care and to attend to her oeuvre and archive. The exhibition provides an opportunity to establish a symbolic relationship between the invited artists and W臋grzynowska and her work. It is also an attempt to draw attention to the insufficient presence of female artists, both deceased and still active, in the field of art.
The invitation to participate in the project was for most people also their first contact with W臋grzynowska and her art, becoming a source of inspiration for them. Agata Bogacka will enter into a painting dialogue with W臋grzynowska. Berlin-based artist Jenny Brockmann became interested in the artist鈥檚 collaboration with lecturers from the Warsaw University of Technology to create of a laser work for a show at Galeria Studio in 2005. Austrian artist Dagmar Sch眉rrer will translate W臋grzynowska鈥檚 three-dimensional op-art compositions into the language of augmented reality (AR). Agnieszka Grodzi艅ska is focusing on the process of making an artwork and ways to create optical illusion. Magdalena and Ludomir Franczak first encountered W臋grzynowska less than a decade ago when her legacy reached Lublin. This encounter with the artist鈥檚 oeuvre inspired Ludomir Franczak to create a project at the intersection of theater, visual arts and documentary film, titled The Life and Death of Janina W臋grzynowska (2016). For this exhibition the artist will use scenographic elements, complemented with unfinished works by W臋grzynowska and a sound layer composed for the show by Marcin Dymiter in collaboration with Franczak. Magdalena Franczak will reach back into W臋grzynowska鈥檚 diaries, especially the experiences she describes of working in the studio and with its physical space. Franczak will combine this with ritual practices and transform it into the form of a ceramic installation.
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This exhibition was born out of a need to tell the stories of artists whose lives and works are fascinating, but who have found themselves outside the 鈥榓rt circuit,鈥� and thus remain unnoticed. The project began with 鈥淕rey-Orange Painting鈥� (1979) by Janina W臋grzynowska (1930-2010), which is in the Galeria Studio Collection. During preparation for the Collection鈥檚 exhibition in 2021, curator Paulina Olszewska became interested in the op-art composition and its author, about whom only scraps of information could be found.
The figure of Janina W臋grzynowska, an artist associated with Warsaw, seems to duplicate the biographies of many women active in the field of art in the 20th century, in Poland and around the world. They are often characterized by innovative and progressive thinking about art and an interdisciplinarity across many fields. They were, and in some cases still are, experimental and committed artists, working intensely for most of their lives. And yet they often exist outside of the mainstream, without sufficient support or adequate opportunity for their talent to be apparent. In turn, after death, their work, often left unattended, is condemned to dispersal or destruction, and thus to oblivion.
Our story about W臋grzynowska and her art involves, among other things, initiating a dialogue with contemporary artists. The curator has invited people from different backgrounds, working in various media and art fields, to draw attention to the topicality of W臋grzynowska鈥檚 practice and put it back into artistic circulation. An important aspect of this approach is to surround the artist with care and to attend to her oeuvre and archive. The exhibition provides an opportunity to establish a symbolic relationship between the invited artists and W臋grzynowska and her work. It is also an attempt to draw attention to the insufficient presence of female artists, both deceased and still active, in the field of art.
The invitation to participate in the project was for most people also their first contact with W臋grzynowska and her art, becoming a source of inspiration for them. Agata Bogacka will enter into a painting dialogue with W臋grzynowska. Berlin-based artist Jenny Brockmann became interested in the artist鈥檚 collaboration with lecturers from the Warsaw University of Technology to create of a laser work for a show at Galeria Studio in 2005. Austrian artist Dagmar Sch眉rrer will translate W臋grzynowska鈥檚 three-dimensional op-art compositions into the language of augmented reality (AR). Agnieszka Grodzi艅ska is focusing on the process of making an artwork and ways to create optical illusion. Magdalena and Ludomir Franczak first encountered W臋grzynowska less than a decade ago when her legacy reached Lublin. This encounter with the artist鈥檚 oeuvre inspired Ludomir Franczak to create a project at the intersection of theater, visual arts and documentary film, titled The Life and Death of Janina W臋grzynowska (2016). For this exhibition the artist will use scenographic elements, complemented with unfinished works by W臋grzynowska and a sound layer composed for the show by Marcin Dymiter in collaboration with Franczak. Magdalena Franczak will reach back into W臋grzynowska鈥檚 diaries, especially the experiences she describes of working in the studio and with its physical space. Franczak will combine this with ritual practices and transform it into the form of a ceramic installation.
