Grzegorz KOWALSKI (b. 1942), Moebius, 2005

gouache, crayon, paper; 26 x 30 cm;
signed p. d.: KOWALSKI;
Inscribed on back: Grzegorz Kowalski Moebius 2005 gouache, crayon, paper 30 x 26 cm.

Sculptor, art theorist and critic, exhibition curator. Artist interested in crossing the boundaries of traditionally understood sculpture. In his work he steers towards installation, performance, photography and video, as well as documentary art. His artistic attitude was formed as a result of the influence of Oskar Hansen's idea of open form, under whom he was an assistant, and the theoretical thought of Jerzy Jarnuszkiewicz (intellectual analysis of the creative process), under whom he completed his diploma. Grzegorz Kowalski is the author of many theoretical statements about art (co-author of the monograph and the exhibition "Should and Rebellion"), as well as experimental didactic programs (partner didactics) implemented in the studios he runs at the Department of Sculpture and the Department of New Media. The phenomenon-concept of the "blacksmith shop" became particularly established in the lexicon of terms for contemporary art in Poland when many authors of critical art emerged from the studio run by Kowalski in the 1990s. The artist was born in Warsaw in 1942. He studied at the Sculpture Department from 1959 to 1965, graduating with honors in the studio of Jerzy Jarnuszkiewicz. He was dean of the Faculty of Sculpture from 1987 to 1990, and a full professor.