Sławomir Ćwiek. Drawings and Graphic Works Paweł Kwiatkowski. Graphic Works

These exhibitions continue a cultural cooperation that already has some history, between the Vilnius Graphic Art Centre and the Strzemiński Academy of Art Łódź. The artwork by Sławomir Ćwiek (b. 1954) and Paweł Kwiatkowski (b. 1981) hosted by VGAC provides the visitor with an opportunity of a closer acquaintance with the contemporary school of Polish graphic art and creations by different generations. The work by Ćwiek is dominated by geometric forms knit into a visually dense knot. White planes, multi-layered recurring elements and contrasts of intense colours in his drawings and silksreen prints create a dynamic weave, an unsettling creative world. The viewer is drawn into a journey through the maze of conceptual geometric transformations that turn into a philosophical adventure.
In 1980 Ćwiek graduated from the State School of Visual Arts in Łódź. Since 1992, he works in Strzemiński Academy of Art Łódź. In 2016 he acquired the title of Professor. In 2012-2020 he was a director of Graphic Art Institute at the Strzemiński Academy of Art. From the first sight, the work by Kwiatkowski is reminiscent of the aesthetics of the French New Wave. The artist renders elements of reality into abstract structures functioning as conceptual metaphors. His large-scale prints record the impressions of fleeting passings-by or of momentary encounters. His characters hide their faces, turn away from the onlooker, ‘smudge’ their identity with abrupt gestures or take cover in a deep shadow. The viewer becomes a voyeur, observing the characters going about their own business. In 2011 Kwiatkowski graduated from the Strzemiński Academy of Art in Łódź, at Graphic and Painting Department. In 2016, he acquired a PhD in the area of Graphics. Since 2020 he works as a director of the Graphic Art Institute at the Strzemiński Academy of Art in Łódź.