Grzegorz Stec

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Grzegorz Stec, 2014

Grzegorz Stec (born January 24, 1955 in Krakow ) is a Polish painter, graphic artist and poet.

Grzegorz Stec "The Prince" 1997, oil on canvas, 90 × 90 cm

Life

Stec studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow from 1976–1981 and graduated in graphics from Professor Włodzimierz Kunz, and he studied painting from Professor Jan Świderski. Stec can take part in over 50 solo exhibitions. a. in Poland, the USA, Sweden, Germany and France. From 1995 to 2009 he had several exhibitions in the USA. From 1996 to 2002 he was Artist in Residence Society for Arts Chicago (exhibitions Letters to the Mastres (1996), “Exodus or Carnival?” (1997) and “Aqueducts of Dream” (1998)), 2008–2009 at the Kosciuszko Foundation. The last major work shows were in Cracow in the Pałac Sztuki [Art Palace] (2012 and 2015), in the “Solvay” Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej [Center for Contemporary Art] (2014), in the Center for Jewish Culture (2010 and 2014). In addition to his large-format paintings, he also works as a book illustrator and poster artist. Polish public legal television dedicated a documentary entitled Zadręcza mnie zapach czerni / The smell of black torments me (1991, director: Cezary Nowicki) to his oeuvre. Stec exhibited in Germany at the Polish Institute in Leipzig (2014) and at the Abakus Gallery (Berlin-Weißensee 2015). Poems by him were translated into German by Dieter Kalka .

Grzegorz Stec "Wóz krzyku" III, 2015, oil on canvas, 100 × 140

Stec published two volumes of poetry: Nikt tu nie szuka odpowiedzi / Nobody searches for an answer (1999) and Melencolia / Melancholie (2007).

Stec is married to the Polish literary historian Gabriela Matuszek-Stec and lives in Krakow.

plant

The visual work of Grzegorz Stec occupies a special position in contemporary art. He is an extremely original artist who presents a visionary art that is based on subconscious impulses and at the same time reflects the modern world. His pictures stand between abstraction and figuration. The abundance in terms of structure, colors and structure is typical. These range from simple forms to dense compositions of the horror vacui or from pure and unambiguous color design to monochrome to simple black and white. What interests him most is the crowd, how it is bent and deformed and buffeted by madness and trauma. Stec depicts gigantic marches, processions, crowds, mass parades and war. The individual is deformed, an insignificant part of this mass. The individual person appears here as a mask, although these are less portraits than symbols of the respective psyches of these beings.

The cycle of vertical images in turn represents luminous spirits standing in space; as it were x-rays of the soul.

The injuries and mutilations of people and the world each contrast with the light that plays the central role in image design and the level of meaning. The artist knows how to masterfully implement lighting effects. They evoke a spiritual level that is so disavowed in contemporary art. The light takes on the main role in numerous works, especially in the "black" pictures, which are among the most original of the artist. These ascetic improvisations are often an attempt to visualize pure light.

Grzegorz Stec has developed an independent technique of oil painting. In the case of the “black” images, it consists in achieving technical effects like those of mezzotin. The colored works, on the other hand, begin spontaneously and intuitively, and then painstakingly fine-tune the details. At Stec, art develops out of the tension between the spontaneity of the unconscious vision and the regulating intellect, the outbreak of emotion and the sensitivity of form. It is a powerful as well as subtle art, original and culturally anchored, wild and subtle. Not least because of the drastic and essential subject matter, your message encourages reflection on our world and individual existence.

Criticism

“The eponymous melancholy and masquerade are metaphors for two different, albeit interwoven, feelings towards the current situation. Melancholy includes sadness, alienation and the feeling of powerlessness, as well as the experience of loss and the pain of impermanence. The masquerade, on the other hand, describes the flight into carnivalism or the donning of masks, whereby the insect person, entangled in diverse networks, communicates with the world. Thanks to light and its paramount importance in Stec's painting, (metaphysical) hope still dominates here. The present paintings in the exhibition encompass the two main tendencies of the outstanding Krakow artist: the unique black and white works in oils and the color compositions, in which the uncanny is reproduced through the interplay of nuances and spontaneous techniques. The melancholy and masquerade from the title are not always reflected in the contrast between monochrome and polychromy. Nothing is clear in Grzegorz Stec's artistic work and his pictures, which are dense in form and content, require constant reinterpretation ”.

“Grzegorz Stec is well known among connoisseurs of sophisticated painting in Chicago. They are works that evoke fear in some and excitement in others (and the irrepressible desire to own them). Therefore, in addition to the undeniable artistic success, Stec also has a commercial success. His paintings shine intensely and amaze with their unusual associations, with a mysterious and puzzling aura. With each further deepening they surprise with new discoveries ”.

"If the zeitgeist, guided by the natural need for homeostasis, wanted to create a counterbalance to the Neue Wilde, it would immediately have to think of the pictures by Stec".

Individual exhibitions (selection)

  • Olimp Club, Cracow, 1979
  • Galeria Mały Rynek, Krakow. 1985
  • Emigrant's Club, Stockholm , Sweden , 1986
  • Galeria Inny Świat, Cracow, 1986
  • Teatr Stary, Krakow, 1987
  • Galeria Inny Świat, Krakow, 1988
  • Galeria Inny Świat, Krakow, 1989
  • Muzeum Śląskie, Katowice, 1989
  • Stara Galeria, Krakow, 1991
  • Galeria Profil, Poznań, 1992
  • Teatr Witkacego, Zakopane, 1992
  • Stara Galeria, Krakow, 1993
  • Galeria Inny Świat, Krakow, 1993
  • PAAS Gallery, New York, 1995
  • Dom Natana Spiry, Krakow, 1995
  • Insights, The John G. Blank Center for the Art, Michigan City (with sculptures by Adam Fedorowicz), 1996
  • Letters to the Mastres, 1112 Gallery, The Society for Arts, Chicago, 1996
  • Exodus or Carnival ?, 1112 Gallery, The Society for Arts, Chicago , 1997
  • Aqueducts of Dream, 1112 Gallery, The Society for Arts, Chicago , 1998
  • Galeria Centrum, Nowohuckie Centrum Kultury Krakow, 2002
  • Muzeum Historii Miasta Łodzi, Łódź , 2005
  • Akwedukty snów, Galeria Ermitaż, Muzeum Łazienki Królewskie, Warsaw , 2006
  • Galleri Central Europe, Stockholm , 2007
  • Galeria Kuriera Plus, New York, 2008
  • Polish Consulate General in New York , 2008
  • Fundacja Kościuszkowska, New York, 2009
  • Oto - patrz Fryderyku (with Krzysztof Izdebsk-Cruz and Marcin Kołpanowicz), Polska Filharmonia Bałtycka oraz Galeria Klucznik, 2010
  • Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej, Kołobrzeg (z Marcinem Kołpanowiczem), 2010
  • Pisane światłem, pisane mrokiem, Centrum Kultury Żydowskiej, Cracow, 2011
  • Ciemne epifanie, Pałac Sztuki Towarzystwa Przyjaciół Sztuk Pięknych w Krakowie, 2012
  • Jest czerń tak przezroczysta ... Galeria Ars Nova w Łodzi, 2012
  • Collegium Novum Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, Cracow, 2013
  • Mairie de Saint-Ouen Marchefroy, France , 2013
  • POSTkarnawał, Dwór Czeczów, Cracow, 2013
  • W świetle, w ciemności, Centrum Kultury Żydowskiej, Cracow, 2014
  • Wokół Antygony, Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej Solvay, Krakow, 2014
  • In Light and Darkness, Polish Institute Leipzig , 2014
  • Melancholia i Maskarada II, Galeria Sztuki Współczesnej DAGMA ART, Katowice, 2015
  • Wokół masek i demonów, Jama Michalika, Krakow, 2015
  • Melancholy and Masquerade, Galerie Abakus, Berlin (in cooperation with the Polish Embassy and the Polish Cultural Institute Berlin), 2015
  • Wóz krzyku, Pałac Sztuki, Krakow, 2015
Grzegorz Stec, "Zarin", oil on canvas, 100 × 140 cm

Volumes of poetry

Painting by Grzegorz Stec, "Hunger", 2010, oil on canvas, 70 × 100

Bibliography (selection)

  • Marek Sołtysik, Na szlaku mocnych wystaw, “Kraków” 2015 No. 1, p. 92.
  • Spontaniczność, precyzja i energia światła. Z Grzegorzem Stecem rozmawia Michalina Domoń, “Artysta i Sztuka” 2013 No. 9, pp. 80–91.
  • Marek Sołtysik, Światło, które odgania sępy, “Kraków” No. 3, p. 93.
  • Wojciech Ligęza, Cztery sale: korowód, “Kraków” No. 3, p. 92.
  • Beata Anna Symołon, Niezbędny jest tylko czas…,
  • Marek Sołtysik, Światło, które odgania sępy “Kraków” 2011 No. 11–12 (November / December), p. 93.
  • Gabriela Matuszek, Akwedukty intrygujących metafor. O malarstwie Grzegorza Steca, “Kraków” 2010 No. 4.
  • Izabela Joanna Bożek, Zagadka, żywioł i poezja, “Kurier Plus” New York, May 10, 2008
  • Czesław Karkowski, “Efektowne obraz Grzegorza Steca”, “Przegląd Polski”, New York, May 9, 2008
  • Tadeusz Nyczek, catalog wystawy Grzegorz Stec, Akwedukty snów / Aqueducts of Dreams, Muzeum Łazienki Królewskim w Warszawie, Galeria Ermitaż, 2006
  • Marcin Kołpanowicz, Grzegorz Stec, jest czerń… Catalog wystawy w Galerii Centrum, Kraków 2002.
  • Anna Bugajska, History z wyobraźni. Wystawa malarstwa Grzegorza Steca, “Gazeta Wyborcza” Kraków, May 24, 2002
  • Marcin Kołpanowicz, catalog wystawy w Galerii Centrum w Krakowie, 2002
  • Ewa Krasoń, "Akwedukty snu, nowe obrazy Grzegorza Steca w Galerii Towarzystwa Sztuki", "Monitor", dodatek kulturalny do "Dziennika Związkowego", Chicago, January 1999
  • Wanda Pietrzyk-Małysa, “Exodus czy karnawał? Panoramiczne malarstwo Grzegorza Steca "
  • "Kalejdoskop Tygodnia", Magazyn Kulturalny "Dziennika Związkowego", Chicago, May 22, 1997 (No. 20)
  • Ewa Krasoń, Malarstwo i poezja Grzegorza Steca, “Kalejdoskop Tygodnia”, Magazyn Kulturalny “Dziennika Związkowego”, Chicago, May 31, 1996 (No. 5).
  • Grzegorz Niziołek, catalog wystawy w Galerii Jatki, Nowy Targ, 1992
  • Tadeusz Nyczek, Program Galerii “Inny Świat”, July 1988
  • Marta Fita, Galerii Program “Inny Świat”, July 1988
  • Maciej Szybist, “Kuszenie św. Mahlera ”, Program wystawy w Teatrze Starym, Kraków, April 1987
  • Roman Świątek, Program wystawy w Teatrze Starym, Kraków, April 1987
  • Tadeusz Nyczek, catalog wystawy w Galerii Mały Rynek, Kraków 1985
  • Interview 2015, Radio Krakow

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stec on culture.pl
  2. ↑ movie Zadręcza mnie zapach Czerni
  3. ^ Exhibition catalog Polish Institute Leipzig
  4. ^ Gallery Abakus Berlin
  5. ↑ Spontaniczność, precyzja i energia światła. Z Grzegorzem Stecem rozmawia Michalina Domoń, “Artysta i Sztuka” 2013 No. 9, pp. 80–91
  6. ↑ Ewa Krasoń, "Akwedukty snu, nowe obrazy Grzegorza Steca w Galerii Towarzystwa Sztuki", "Monitor", dodatek kulturalny do "Dziennika Związkowego", Chicago, January 1999
  7. ↑ Tadeusz Nyczek, catalog wystawy Grzegorz Stec, Akwedukty snów / Aqueducts of Dreams, Muzeum Łazienki Królewskim w Warszawie, Galeria Ermitáž, 2006
  8. ^ Prospectus for the exhibition “Melancholy and Masquerade”, Abakus Gallery in Berlin; March 2015
  9. ↑ Ewa Krasoń, Malarstwo i poezja Grzegorza Steca, "Kalejdoskop Tygodnia", Magazyn Kulturalny "Dziennika Związkowego", Chicago, May 31, 1996 (no 5)
  10. ↑ Tadeusz Nyczek, Program Galerii "Inny Świat", July 1988
  11. ↑ Author's evening with Stec in the Centrum Kultury Żydowskiej Krakau, 2011
  12. ↑ exhibition Wóz krzyku in Kunstpalast
personal data
SURNAME Stec, Grzegorz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish painter, printmaker and poet
DATE OF BIRTH January 24, 1955
PLACE OF BIRTH Krakow