http://www.siudmak.pl/siudmak_eng.html

- you can see his other works here





For the years 2003-2004, the many branches of Poland's National Museum have prepared a set of retrospective exhibitions devoted to the work of Wojciech Siudmak. These exhibits will be part of a larger series of international presentations of the artist's achievements over the past thirty years. In 1989, the prestigious Palais de Tokyo in Paris hosted the first-ever retrospective of the artist's works in France. That exhibition was repeatedly enriched and remounted, touring many other venues. Ten years later, it was shown in five museums in various Polish cities, concluding its first tour of the artist's native country at the National Museum in Warsaw.

The purpose of the present series of exhibitions is to render Siudmak's poetic vision available to a broader public. At the threshold of the new millennium, these presentations will stimulate the sensitivities of viewers, showing them a different view of the future, eliciting philosophical reflection on human beings as well as their projects and destinies. Siudmak's work embodies a complex vision of elevated humanistic values. It encourages us to think about the capabilities of humans in their various endeavors and their ability to affect the fate of our planet, which recently, for the first time in the history of humanity, was seen from outer space.

Wojciech Siudmak is considered to be one of the leading representatives of fantastic realism. He refers to himself as a fantastic hyperrealist and often underlines his own originality. Fantastic realism, which combines surrealistic vision with naturalistic art, has its roots in Surrealism as represented by Salvador Dali, René Magritte and Paul Delvaux. Siudmak shares with Dali an incredible skill for reproducing the illusion of three-dimensional space, a sensitivity for light and shadow, and an ability to use both linear and spatial perspective. Siudmak supplements these traditional means of expression with purely realistic and often very personal elements, placing his technical perfection at the service of his highly original and robust imagination.

The motto of the current series of exhibitions is Wojciech Siudmak's life credo - "Only dreams can surpass insurmountable barriers." The works included in FANTASTIC WORLDS are the fruit of 30 years of the painter's life in art. The exhibition will present one hundred works, including sixty-five paintings and thirty-five drawings, as well as corresponding texts that will introduce viewers to the author's poetic world, one filled with dreams, utopias and allegories reflecting complex meanings and the author's personal, prophetic image of the future.

Wojtek Siudmak was born on October 10th, 1942 in the town of Wielun, where he completed his primary education. He went on to attend the Visual Arts College in Warsaw between 1956-1961 and subsequently studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw from 1961 to 1966. In September of 1966, he traveled to France to continue his studies at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris (1967-1968). He currently lives and works in France.

His works have been seen around the world and are often used to advertise films, theatre productions and museums, becoming the conveyors of messages about prestigious events like the Cannes Film Festival and the Montreal Film Festival. On a number of occasions, large industrial companies have also chosen the artist's paintings to present their technological explorations and achievements. For years, Siudmak's images have appeared on the covers of books in one of the largest Science Fiction series in France, produced by "Pocket" Publishers, as well as on many album covers. His paintings are used broadly in advertising.

The artist works with various galleries and publishers around the world. The year 1988 witnessed the beginning of a series of vast retrospective exhibitions that consisted of displaying the artist's broad array of explorations, dating back to 1970, in numerous cities around Europe and countries around the world. An especially prestigious and unique manifestation of the artist's recent achievements consisted of an exhibition on the Eiffel Tower - the legendary symbol of Paris and France - in celebration of the advent of the third millennium. Also interesting and replete with symbolism was a project that involved projecting Wojciech Siudmak's paintings on the façade of the Temple of Ramses III in Luxor, Egypt, in February of the year 2000.

This exhibition of works by Wojciech Siudmak will be accompanied by cultural events that will draw on fantasy themes. These will enrich the totality of events and extend the themes of the artist's exhibition into other domains, embodied in conferences, writing contests, art contests, and concerts. The exhibition will be presented in Wielun (the artist's home town), Wroclaw, Kielce, Katowice, Lodz, Torun and Warsaw.