Mala Gallery, Warsaw, 8, Zamkowy Sq.
From October 6 to November 6, 1998
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Piotr Wojnarowski - "Autumn", from the exhibition in Mala Gallery, Warsaw
Piotr Wojnarowski - "Sky 1", from the exhibition in Mala Gallery, Warsaw
HE exhibition "Places" covers works by Piotr Wojnarowski created in the years 1996 - 1998 in Warsaw and Prague. The works are colourful, front-lit diapositives 20 x 25 cm. Most of the works have been computerprocessed. This computer touch places the works on the border of traditional and digital photography.
Piotr Wojnarowski was born and raised in Starowka, the Old Town of Warszawa. He was inspired by a variety of wall textures on the Old Town mansions, the way light played on them as well as the way different objects were reflected on them. Mansion walls formed a kind of stage on which photographic events created in author's imagination took place.
The works from 1996: "Bright moonlight night", "Winter", "Sky 1", "Sky 2", "Autumn" are pure photographs in the technical sense of the word, although they strike as being unreal, close to a daydream. This unreal effect has been obtained by the careful selection of wall textures, the use of simple scenery and a masterly processing of proof under the enlarger. The end result is a diapositive processed in a big format camera.
The other works, although similar in style, are not traditional photographs. Computer has been used to create them. Particular elements such as textures, window frames, leaves, bottles etc. have been photographed first. They were scanned then. On the computer the colour and contrast have been adjusted as well as the relation between particular elements has been captured. Such a photo-digital collage has been processed into a diapositive or a rainbow has been photographed in a big format camera. So a camera has also been used to create these works and they exist on a very classical carrier.
There have always been areas within art not concerned with events & assessments. Also artists do not always pay attention to the way their works are labelled by critics. Possibly in the future a name will be given to the genre that Piotr Wojnarowski represents. However, when we look at the works now, we do not think about the way they have been created. The process is a secondary issue. The important thing is that the emotions the artist wants to express are clear, the works are inspiring and it is difficult to pass them by.
Malgorzata Mikolajczyk
Transl. by K. Wojciechowski
Piotr Wojnarowski - "The dryer chamber", from the exhibition in Mala Gallery, Warsaw
Piotr Wojnarowski - "On the table", from the exhibition in Mala Gallery, Warsaw
Piotr Wojnarowski - "The bath at Vaclav. Namesti", from the exhibition in Mala Gallery, Warsaw
Piotr Wojnarowski - "The closet", from the exhibition in Mala Gallery, Warsaw
INCE few years visual arts use to appropriate photography more often than before. The most important reason for that seems to be an emergence of new technologies, new means of preserving, recording and transforming of the image. That is why a photographic picture becomes more often merely a starting point for realisations that cease to be photograph as it was understood up to now.
The computer boom already present in the world photography has reached Poland too. Photography, particularly this used in advertisment industry undergoes transformation into new images and visual recordings. This phenomenon one can observe in the work of Piotr Wojnarowski, who having everyday contact with these new technologies uses them to create his own artistic ideas.
The result of these experiments are photographic images executed with new tools (computer, scaner). Nevertheles it does not mean that they lack all the features that influence strongly the reception of the work. The artist has transformed the image in order to achieve definite effects which should enhance our reception and deliver us new impressions hardly possible to release without use of all these advanced technologies. The competence in choosing them and the right proportions and perhaps discipline of restraint in using them should decide if such searchnig will succeed in the near future.
The exhibition of Piotr Wojnarowski may be numbered into successful attempts.
Marek Grygiel
Transl. by K. Wojciechowski
Piotr Wojnarowski - "A house at Piwna Street", from the exhibition in Mala Gallery, Warsaw
Piotr Wojnarowski - "Still life with a bottle", from the exhibition in Mala Gallery, Warsaw
Piotr Wojnarowski - "Old Zamecke Stairs", from the exhibition in Mala Gallery, Warsaw
Piotr Wojnarowski - "Zapiecek Street at night", from the exhibition in Mala Gallery, Warsaw
Piotr Wojnarowski
Art education:
1995-1996 Training in the State Higher Film, Theatre and Television School in Lodz, Department of Photography
1992-1994 Post-Secondary School of Visual Arts in Warsaw
1992-1993 Assistant at Photography Workshop in the Youth Palace in Warsaw
International competitions:
1993 Gold Medal and the First Prize in Photographic Competition in Ruzomberok, Slovakia
1992 First Prize in International Photographic Competition in Kankaanpaa, Finnland - "The Forest"
Selected Photographic Exhibitions:
1993 Exhibitions following competitions in Ruzomberok, Slovakia, in Cracow and in Vienna, Austria
1992 "Confrontations without Sanctions" - collective exhibition accompanying XXII Photographic Confrontations in Gorzow Wielkopolski, Poland
1992 Collective exhibitions of the "Rama" group
Piotr Wojnarowski (left) and Marek Grygiel - opening evening at Mala Gallery, Warsaw
Photo Maciej Zienkiewicz / GW
See also:
Copyright © 1997-2012 Marek Grygiel / Copyright for www edition © 1997-2012 Zeta-Media Inc.
e-mail: fti@zeta-media.com
