Paintings 2002-
Wojciech Gilewicz

Wojciech Gilewicz Paintings 2002-

September 30 – November 13, 2021

Paintings 2002- is a painting project by Wojciech Gilewicz started by the artist twenty years ago and consisting currently of 155 paintings of various sizes. However, the artist does not execute it himself, but invites the audience and institutions, in which the works are exhibited, to co-create it.

Art institutions and galleries have the opportunity to become part of the project on the basis of an agreement specifying the terms of its realisation. The exhibition will present, for the first time in one place, all the paintings of the cycle created so far, in an arrangement prepared to fit the character of the gallery interior. However, this does not mean a summary. The infinite duration of the project means that the paintings are constantly subject to change, being continuously repainted. According to the artist's instructions, this takes place every six months. The framework of the project simplifies the creative process to three physical elements: surface (canvas), colour (paint) and movement (hand). At the invitation of the artist, the audience takes part in the process of creating the painting cycle. This radical approach to abstract painting is at the same time deconstructed by the element of chance, giving the participants of the project total freedom in the choice of colours.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a video work. The artist touches upon the creative process, the accumulation of images, randomness, and change. Wojciech Gilewicz's work operates in a variety of contexts, with an ever-present conviction that painting has the potential to keep up with and describe our times.

Wojciech Gilewicz was born in 1974 in Bilgoraj, Poland. He lives and works between New York and Warsaw. Trained as a painter he views painting as an activity and a process rather than a flat decorative object. Gilewicz is also a photographer. In 2009 the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw, Poland published Them – an artistic album of Gilewicz’ series of photographic double self-portraits, a project started in 2002, which continues to date. Wojciech Gilewicz is also an author of installations and videos. The artist also often performs himself in front of his video camera. In 2022 the book on Gilewicz' video works realized in Asia between 2008 and 2018 titled Visitor / Intrude will be jointly published by two Polish contemporary art institutions: the Galeria Labirynt in Lublin and Arsenal Gallery in Bialystok. Wojciech Gilewicz’s art provokes reflection on the mechanisms which govern perception and its cultural conditioning. The artist draws the viewer’s attention to what we see and what we commonly perceive as art and why. He takes on board issues related to the responsibilities of an artist in modern society as a citizen often asking questions on artistic production in the context of physical labor, ecology, and sustainability. He is also interested in the status of the artist and his work in the context of both the institution and the circulation of art. Gilewicz in his works actively collaborates with the viewer, whom he involves both in his projects and in polemics about myths and stereotypes concerning art, its reception, and interpretation. A comprehensive survey of Gilewicz' work titled Studio was published in 2017 by Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contemporary Art in Cracow, Poland. Since 2017 Wojciech Gilewicz has co-run Beach64retreat on the seaside in Rockaway, Queens, New York, a grass-root independent free of charge initiative for creatives from various fields as the artist’s personal response to the rising precarity in arts and culture. Over 100 creators have taken part in this program to this day, now in its forth season.

The exhibition in the frame of Warsaw Gallery Weekend