Galeria Gardzienice cordially invites you to the opening of an exhibition of Wojciech Fangor’s paintings and sculptures from the collection of the Polish Sculpture Centre in Orońsko and in Bogdan Sarwiński’s Photographs, Closer to the Moment That Will Change Us Into a Breath.
On October 18th at 6 pm (opening event) and October 25th at 5 pm (on the day of the artist's death anniversary) the gallery will show a documentary directed by Piotr Weychert and Paulina Brzezińska, Przestrzenie Fangora (Fangor's Spaces).Running time: 46 minutes
Curated by: Zuzanna Zubek - Gańska
Organized in collaboration with: Bogdan Sarwiński and Polish Sculpture Centre in Orońsko
Graphic Design: Jacek Gański
Lighting Design: Włodzimierz Janowski
The exhibition is on display until December 15.
Free admission to the exhibition and the opening event.
The exhibition is open from Monday to Friday between 10 am and 6 pm.
The idea of the exhibition was born a year ago. I wanted to show Wojciech Fangor through the filter of his works, at the same time leaving some space for "something else," which would allow us to introduce the artist better to the audience. However, the work of this artist is extremely extensive and cannot be narrowed down; attempting to do this would be like having a multi-threaded story brought down to a well-known script, an abstract serving as a starting point for nothing. With such exhibition, "something else" did not seem to make any sense. The main denominator of the exhibition is the collection of the Polish Sculpture Centre in Orońsko containing the artist's paintings and sculptures alike. Displayed in an intimate black space of Gardzienice Gallery, they become ephemeral and delicate. Colourful accents take the works out from the specified gallery background and move towards the viewer. They seem to be unconstrained yet conservatively and rhythmically go beyond the frame.
They are pulsating. As they should be. Thus we participate, at least to a small extent, in the artist's illusionary space. And hence we begin to get to know better and read the works of Wojciech Fangor in a more intimate way, which seems to somewhat entrap us in our small spaces. Outstanding photographer Bogdan Sarwiński, who met Fangor in Błędów, gave in to this entrapment and attraction to art ... and managed to understand Fangor’s painting world. He created Fangomagorie, which will help us enter the painter’s world full of optical illusions.
He opposed the figure of the artist to his work, and, ultimately, to us – the unsuspecting visual consumers of his works. We have become silent witnesses to the process of creating the exhibition – a photographic environment whose final shape is determined by ourselves. And this is the element of surprise that Bogdan Sarwiński has prepared for us. The element that will combine all the threads of the exhibition as in a puzzle, leaving us some space for our own interpretation too.
Wojciech Fangor said: "My painting was and is based on sensory experiences, illusions, curiosity. I react to different stimuli, I like to look at things from different points of view. Different topics require different needs for action. I cannot give up on incentives, I cannot control them. Hence, this stylistic and thematic diversity. I am fascinated by the changeability of today's time."
Zuzanna Zubek – Gańska / Introduction /
Bogdan Sarwiński was born on December 30, 1957 in Działdowo. He became interested in photography as a primary school pupil, when he bought a SMIENA 8M camera for his first earned money. After that he attended photography classes under the supervision of Anna Wenkowska, instructor at the Youth Cultural Centre in his hometown Działdowo. The following years witnessed his moving to Warsaw, where he completed a Postgraduate Photography School; it was also a period of the artist’s activity with the Young Photographers Creative Group, 6 x 6 Club, at the Youth Palace in Warsaw. In 1981 he became member of the Association of Polish Art Photographers. Between 1979 and 1990 he worked with the POLFILM Film Institute in Warsaw as head of the production group and photographer. From 1991 to 2004 he had his own company FOTO-TEN, and in the years 1995-2018, together with his wife Grażyna, he ran the POLFILM Photographic Advertising Agency. Bogdan Sarwiński has been living in Błędów since 2004.
The artists says, "Photography is my profession as well as my passion and artistic vocation".
Bogdan Sarwiński has shown his works at collective and individual shows. During his stay in Błędów, the artist got familiar with an extraordinary figure in the world of art, Wojciech Fangor. It was a period of intense artistic work, when he created many portraits, documentary-like photographs showing Fangor’s silhouette. Gradually, the artist's world enters Bogdan Sarwiński’s life, leaving a tangible trace in it in the form of hundreds of thousands Fangor’s photos. Thereby, a story is created, a multi-threaded account portraying the distinguished artist. That's how Fangomagorie are created.
The artist has published three albums devoted to Wojciech Fangor’s work, inspired by three meetings with the artist, Tchnienie (Breath), The Story of One Signature (Historia Jednej Sygnatury) and Fangormagorie. The first two albums were published in small circulation by the digital printing technique while Fangoramgorie was published in 2000 copies (limited edition of 1000 copies with a fingerprint stamp and a facsimile of Fangor’s signature).