“Mystery of Transition”.

That the jubilee exhibition of the work of the professor of the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts will take place in Stalowa Wola is no coincidence. The artist was born and spent a period of early childhood in Bojanowo. More than once in his statements, he also emphasized his deep emotional connection with Stalowa Wola, rooted in memories of the artist’s late father, who once worked at the Steelworks.

The exhibition will show part of the artist’s extremely rich oeuvre – works from characteristic cycles – drawing, painting, photography, as well as spatial forms and film realizations.

The author titled the exhibition “The Mystery of Transition,” which directly relates to the artist’s thoughts. He returns to the Subcarpathian region for a specific purpose – to confront his own ideas and memories.

Like any nomad I walk… Standing on the shore, I look not so much ahead as back. I begin to see the importance of what happened: the beauty of what I saw – even when it was drowning in a sea of fire – the wisdom and cruelty of words, the brightness and harshness of images, sounds… the uniqueness of human gestures (…).

I am only now taming these places; (…) I return to them for a while, but I see much more than when I was described by them, entwined with them, when I was part of them. – A statement included in the 2014 catalog “Like a Dog!

Zbigniew Bajek’s work is very complex and touches on many problems related to the issues of the path of life and death. As the artist himself writes, all his works are a form of dialogue between himself and other people, between man and nature, culture and history. In other words, according to his art researcher Ewa Herniczek, Zbigniew Bajek’s thirty years of artistic effort can be called an attempt to build himself and build art – through himself.

Within his own work, the artist is the author of many projects of an interdisciplinary nature: “Building a Tower of Fairy Tales”, ‘Elements’, ‘Between the Nile and Jordan’, ‘According to the Book of Tobias’, ‘Paradise Lost’, ‘Freedom is a Woman’, ‘Taming the Stranger’, ‘Kafka – Taming the Stranger’, ‘Relics’. He also realizes artistic ventures, in which he invites established artists, but also doctoral students and students, such as: “Touch”, ‘Magic Square’, ‘Limits of Identity’, ‘Black on White’, ‘Dimensions of Freedom’, ‘Labyrinth of Freedom’, ‘Horizon of Freedom’, ‘Drama of Freedom’.

Zbigniew Bajek – was born in 1958 in Bojanowo, Stalowa Wola district. Studied at the Painting Department of the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow in the atelier of Associate Professor Zbigniew Grzybowski; graduated with honor in 1984. Since 1983 he has been employed at the Painting Department of his alma mater. He was awarded the title of professor in 2009. He teaches the 1st Interdisciplinary Studio and the subject Knowledge of Visual Actions and Structures. From 2005 to 2010, he led the directional painting studio for doctoral students of the Environmental Doctoral Studies. Since 2005, he has been the head of the Interdisciplinary Department.

Exhibition open: Mon. 8am – 3pm, Tues. 8-18, Wed., Thurs., Fri. 8-15, Sun. 4-7pm, Sat. closed

more information: Iwona Pityńska tel. 15 844 85 56 w.15