www. wrocław skills and imagination

www. wrocław skills and imagination / 22.09.2023 - 17.10.2023

From 22 September, the City Gallery in Wrocław will be filled with colourful glass and monochromatic engravings. The exhibition showcases works by ten artists, associated with the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, whose masterly technique combined with proficiency and rich imagination has motivated this exceptional display.

Out of a rich contemporary array of arts, etching and artistic glass have inspired curator Mirosław Jasiński to create” www.wrocław skills and imagination” exhibition. Both techniques require the artist to master and perfect their craft. Along with artist’s growing skills, they open up new possibilities, inviting exploration and experimentation in the processed material. All ten exhibitors – five glass artists and five engravers – share proficiency in applying complex artistic techniques and an extraordinary ability to realise applied imagination and create artworks that show great mastery.

What’s all the fuss about?

Engraving is a set of methods and techniques used in printmaking. The range of these techniques has been continually expanded over the centuries, thus making engraving the most receptive and open to technological innovations. This feature was confirmed by the uptake of the digital matrix at the end of the 20th century. The range of technological and pictorial possibilities of artistic printmaking has once again grown considerably.
Glass is a highly mysterious substance. It eludes precise definitions, while science does not recognise it as a solid. It is described as an amorphous body “in the glassy state”, which means a substance which, regardless of its chemical composition, has turned from a liquid state to a rigid condition without crystallisation. This elusiveness and imprecision of the glass chemistry has artistic implications – since time immemorial it has been made from a myriad of different materials and coloured in countless ways in far-flung places around the world, offering artists unlimited creative possibilities.

What do the artists propose?

At the “www. wrocław skills and imagination” exhibition, visitors will see elegant and gracefully shaped pieces produced by Małgorzata Dajewska, Agnieszka Leśniak-Banasiak and Wojciech Peszko, anthropomorphic forms by Beata Stankiewicz and Patrycja Dubiel, cinematic and beautifully framed mezzotints by Christopher Nowicki, the fairy-tale-like illustrations in Anna Janusz-Strzyż’s 19th century folios, the dreamy symbols from Przemysław Tyszkiewicz’s works, the texture of everyday objects meticulously rendered by Agata Gertchen, and the architectural perfectionism of Vinicius Libardoni.

To open a “dialogue” between the works in the different rooms, the artists were divided into five pairs – a glassmaker and an engraver. Will it be a harmonious complementation, or perhaps a quarrel after all?

The exhibition will run until 17 October 2023.

Artists on display: Małgorzata Dajewska, Pati Dubiel, Agata Gertchen, Anna Janusz-Strzyż, Agnieszka Leśniak-Banasiak, Vinicius Libardoni, Christopher Nowicki, Wojciech Peszko, Beata Stankiewicz-Szczerbik, Przemysław Tyszkiewicz

Curator: Mirosław Jasiński