Wlodzimierz Ksiazek

Wlodzimierz Ksiazek
Born 1951
Warsaw, Poland
Died May 2011
Pawtucket RI
Resting place unknown
Nationality Polish
Education Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw
Known for Abstract painting
Movement Process art[1]

Włodzimierz Książek (1951 in Warsaw, Poland body found May 18, 2011 in Pawtucket, USA) was a Polish-born contemporary artist based in New England, and since 2001 worked from a 6000 sq. ft. studio in Rhode Island. He was best known for his large-scale abstract paintings.

Life

Ksiazek studied at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts where he received a Master of Fine Arts degree in Painting and Art in Architecture in 1975. He emigrated to the United States in 1982 as a political refugee, escaping martial law in Poland.[2] He became part of a community of visual artists, poets, and writers working on the Eastern seaboard. He had been a permanent resident of the United States since 1988.[3] He died in his studio in Pawtucket, RI, where his body was discovered on May 18, 2011.[4]

Wlodzimierz Ksiazek is survived by his daughter Veronica Goldhagen.

Work

The oil paint seems at times hewn with a palette knife, either roughly or in clean lines, in the case of the latter to formally oppose the chaotic nature of the gradations of color and unexpected buildups of texture. The play of somewhat straight strokes with roughness results in what Ksiazek says could evoke "particular images, for example, archeological sites, floor plans of artifacts such as cathedrals or quotations from architecture." The under-colors, which are tones placed as previous layerings, mix in myriad fashions with successive layers on top.

ArtsEditor[1]

His works are abstract. Ksiazek used oil paints and encaustic painting on large canvasses to build up layers with thin washes and impastos, then scratches, splatters, gouges and picks at the paint to create incised geometric forms and lines.[2][3] His works took up to six months to complete,[3] and were usually untitled.[5] He, personally, disliked to call his paintings abstract. If forced to label his work, he would use the term, "Constructionist."

Donald Kuspit, a professor of art history and philosophy noted that "The hard work that Ksiazek puts into his paintings ... in a constant effort to strike a new balance between two dimensions and three dimensions ... is what makes Ksiazek's paintings creative "advances" in the history of painting."[6]

Wlodzimierz Ksiazek exhibited at Marisa Del Re Gallery and John Gibson Gallery in New York. He had numerous solo exhibitions at the Kouros Gallery in New York, and the Alpha Gallery in Boston.,[7] as well as throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. His other solo exhibition record includes venues such as the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in New York,.[6] His work resides in numerous public and private collections in the United States and abroad.

References

  1. 1 2 Frabetti, A.C. (24 June 2008). "Layered Minesis: seeing the art of Wlodzimierz Ksiazek". ArtsEditor. Retrieved 2009-11-07.
  2. 1 2 Hagen, Susan (14 November 2002). "Wlodzimierz Ksiazek: New Paintings". Philadelphia City Paper. Retrieved 2009-11-07.
  3. 1 2 3 McCorkle, James (10 October 2002). "Painting As Its Own Being". ArtNet. Retrieved 2009-11-07.
  4. "The Mysterious Death of Wlodzimierz Ksiazek". Artnet News. May 31, 2011. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  5. McQuaid, Cate (23 December 2005). "With striking images, 'Drawing Show' leaves its mark". Boston Globe. Retrieved 2009-11-07.
  6. 1 2 Kuspit, Donald (8 June 2005). "Sustaining Abstract Painting". ArtNet. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  7. Lynch, Christopher Todd (October 2001). "Signs of Humanity". ArtsEditor. Retrieved 2009-11-08.

External links

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