The "Wena" Gallery

 

The students’ works presented in this exhibition are unique paintings that shape their creators’ artistic outlook. While they may seem insignificant in the artists’ biographies, each of these paintings, created during their studies, served as both a culmination of their artistic journey and a starting point toward new horizons in their future careers. The works on display have left their mark on the school’s memory through their artistic quality. They represent the school’s unconsciously developed artistic style, which becomes more distinct with the passage of time. These are our paintings, seen every day; some of them have been taken down from the walls of classrooms and school hallways. In some of them, besides the beauty that pleases the eye, teachers see their favorite students, with whom we still feel connected today – writes Łukasz Głowacki, curator of the exhibition, artist, and teacher of drawing and painting at the art school in Nałęczów, who leads the project “Unmarked Map,” awarded in the 6th edition of the “Wena” Grant Program Competition of the Starak Family Foundation under the title "Map on a 1:1 Scale".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The authors of these works - graduates of the school - are now active artists, art teachers, and lecturers at academies of fine arts, such as Dr. Jakub Pieleszek, a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk, where he heads the studio of painting and drawing fundamentals, and Krzysztof Wróblewski, a painter, professor of fine arts, and academic instructor, who has been working at the Department of Visual Arts in the Faculty of Architecture at Gdańsk University of Technology since 1989, is a member of the Faculty Council, and an associate professor at Gdańsk University of Technology. Łukasz Chojnacki, meanwhile, won first place at the 6th International “Family Portrait” Biennial in 2009.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Curator Łukasz Głowacki has juxtaposed early works by artists who are now well-established with the latest art created by students participating in the projects: “The Art of Observing Art” and “The Unmarked Map,” carried out as part of the 5th and 6th editions of the “Wena” Grant Program Competition organized by the Starak Family Foundation: Magdalena Szkutnik, Oliwia Stelmach, and Oscar Winek.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

School has always been a place of creative initiation, where one chooses a career path or an artistic passion. Can a young person be taught artistry? One can be trained in the act of painting, learn to solve painting problems, hone one’s technique, and observe nature with the humility of a student—so that when seeing something again, one sees it anew for the first time. However, this is no guarantee of raising an artist, though undoubtedly, painting a correct, good picture commands respect and is not within everyone’s reach. Perhaps we can only point the way forward, create the conditions, and accompany the future young artist, opening up spaces for the potential of their talent. The works presented here were created precisely at such a moment—adds Łukasz Głowacki.