Marek Szczęsny (born 30 July 1939) is a Polish contemporary painter.[1][2]

Marek Szczęsny
Atlas Sztuki installation 2016
Born (1939-07-30) 30 July 1939 (age 84)
Radom, Poland
NationalityPolish, French
Websitehttp://www.marekszczesny.com/

He has participated in more than thirty solo and group exhibitions throughout Europe and the US.[3][4][5] He currently lives and works in Paris.[6]

Early life edit

Marek Szczęsny was born in Radom, Poland, on 30 July 1939.[2] Szczęsny was born in the year of the outbreak of WWII and spent his earlier life in occupied and post-war Poland.[7][8]

Wanting to become an artist, Marek took private art lessons and in the late 1950s moved to Gdańsk, where he began attending lectures at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk.[3][7][5] In the 1960s he began associating with a group of artists from the Żak - a student cultural club in Gdańsk.[9][3] During this time he met the Polish painter Tadeusz Brzozowski.[7] In 1967 Szczęsny had his debut exhibition at Żak.[1] Thanks to Brzozowski the commission at the Polish Ministry of Culture granted Szczęsny the status of artist and membership to the Association of Polish Visual Artists.[10]

Career edit

In the 1970s, Marek Szczęsny left Gdańsk and moved to Zakopane.[7][10] For four years he was a member of the “GOPR” - the mountain rescue team specializing in winter rescue - in the Tatras, but continued to draw.[10] Between 1970 and 1978 he exhibited his works in both group and solo exhibitions across Poland, Italy and Spain.[11] It would be another 12 years before Szczęsny exhibited in Poland again (in 1991 as part of the group exhibition ‘Jesteśmy’ at Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Poland).[11]

In 1978 Szczęsny left Poland for Paris and two years later was granted a Ford Foundation scholarship in 1980.[12][6][8] At this time Szczęsny began to exhibit his work regularly in Europe.[9]

From 2003 he had individual exhibitions in museums in France and Poland and was included in the exhibition “Polish Artists of the Twentieth Century” in France.[12] In 2008 he had a solo exhibition entitled “Gravitation” at the Foksal Gallery in Warsaw.[1] In 2016 in an exhibition titled “La Dechirure” at the Atlas Sztuki gallery in Łódź Szczęsny created a large wall sized installation using torn paper, cardboard and wood.[13]

Between 1996 and 2008 Marek Szczęsny was awarded grants from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation and the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation in New York and the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art in Omaha, Nebraska.[14] He was also an artist in residence at the Edward F. Albee Foundation in Montauk, New York.[15]

Szczęsny has participated in exhibitions across France, Poland, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Italy, the US, Japan, Germany and Austria.[14][3][16]

Exhibitions edit

  • 30 January - 13 March 2015, Marek Szczęsny, l’étrangère[17]
  • 23 Jun 2016 – 31 Jul 2016, Layered Narratives: Collage/Photomontage/Print, l'étrangère[18][19]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c Jedliński, Jaromir (28 November 2008). "Gravity". Galeria Foksal. Galeria Foksal. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  2. ^ a b "Biography of Marek SZCZESNY (1939)". Artprice - The World Leader in Art Market Information. Artprice. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  3. ^ a b c d "Marek Szczesny: 30 Jan — 13 Mar 2015 at l'étrangère in London, United Kingdom". Wall Street International Magazine. 27 January 2015.
  4. ^ "Marek Szczęsny". Contemporary Lynx. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  5. ^ a b Westall, Mark (February 2015). "Beyond The Frame. This Month: Marek Szczęsny" (PDF). The City Magazine: 102. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  6. ^ a b "MAREK SZCZESNY". Galerie du Canon. Galerie du Canon. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  7. ^ a b c d Sady, Małgorzata. "Marek Szczęsny. Farba na płótnie i papierze". Obieg. Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej Zamek Ujazdowski w Warszawie. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  8. ^ a b "Where to buy...The Week reviews an exhibition in a private gallery; Marek Szczesny at l'etrangere" (PDF). The Week: 34. February 2015.
  9. ^ a b "Marek Szczęsny: Paint on Canvas and Paper". Polish Cultural Institute. Polish Cultural Institute. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
  10. ^ a b c Sady, Malgorzata (2016). "La déchirure: 15.01.2016 – 28.02.2016" (PDF). Atlas Sztuki. 80: 12. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
  11. ^ a b "MAREK-SZCZESNY-CV-Nov-2017" (PDF). letrangere.net. L’Etrangère. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  12. ^ a b "Joanna Mackiewicz-Gemes opens new gallery space with first UK solo presentation of Marek Szczesny". artdaily.org. Jose Villarreal. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  13. ^ Sady, Malgorzata (2016). "Świat ma szczeliny" (PDF). Atlas Sztuki.: 4. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  14. ^ a b "Marek SZCZESNY". La Galerie Akie Arichi & Les Editions Arichi. LA GALERIE AKIÉ ARICHI & LES ÉDITIONS ARICHI. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  15. ^ "Albee Fellows: 1996". The Edward F. Albee Foundation. The Edward F. Albee Foundation. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  16. ^ Turowski, Andrzej. "Turowski Essay" (PDF). letrangere.net. L’Etrangère. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  17. ^ Adam, Georgina (19 December 2014). "The art market: hello and goodbye". Financial Times. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  18. ^ "Layered Narratives: Collage/Photomontage/Print". Polish Cultural Institute. 22 June 2016. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  19. ^ "Layered Narratives: Collage/Photomontage/Print". ArtRabbit. Retrieved 1 November 2019.

External links edit