Wojciech Gilewicz

Return to Artist List

 

What is my work about?

Blurring of the boundaries between reality and its artistic representation as well as different possible ways of perceiving it basically have been driving my whole artistic practice from the very beginning. In my works of art I also reflect upon how changing contexts result in shifting meanings, when for instance my paintings, imitating fragments of reality taken out of it and transferred to a gallery space become purely abstract and gain whole new meanings. When my work happens to be displayed in a museum I ask who is really to determine its sense, value and meaning ? institution, curator, critic or the public and does it gain a new sense within this new museum context or not? I think what describes best my work is that I?m a painter by education, by trade and in my heart trying to redefine painting through other artistic media like video for instance or performative actions. For a few years now I have been developing an interdisciplinary, multimedia and multilevel project “Cuboids”.

 

Artist Statement

Wojciech Gilewicz, Polish American interdisciplinary visual artist was born in 1974 in Bilgoraj, Poland. He lives and works in Arverne, Queens in New York. He is a painter, photographer and author of installations and videos as well as of performative actions conducted in public realm and videotaped, often related to his painterly practice.

Drawing on his experience of the painting medium, the artist creates formally varied works, which seek to investigate the boundaries of art and space (In Practice, 2009). In his recording of reality, Gilewicz remains loyal to the painting tradition he was trained in. Each frame registered by his camera becomes a painting (Akiyoshidai, 2012), the camera itself fluidly transforming into a means of registering social relations, which take place ‘outside’ his actions (Residency Unlimited, 2012).

Wojciech Gilewicz’s art provokes reflection on the mechanisms which govern perception and its cultural conditioning (Painter’s Painting, 2010-2014). The author also actively collaborates with the viewer, whom he involves both in his projects and in polemics about myths and stereotypes concerning the most recent art, its reception and interpretation. He takes on board issues related to the role of painting in today’s world, the status of the artist and artistic work in the context of the institution and the circulation of art as well as society at large (Cuboids, 2014).

In 2009, the Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw, Poland published Them – an artistic album of Wojciech Gilewicz’s work, presenting a series of photographic double self-portraits, a project started in 2002, which continues to date, in parallel to the artist’s painterly, video, installation and performative practice: http://www.691456535.home.pl/GILEWICZ/ckfinder_pliki/files/ONI.pdf Using traditional photographic techniques: graduation filter and double exposure, Gilewicz creates his own look-alike, twin brother, his alter ego and looks at himself through their eyes arranging situations that, seemingly ordinary and every day, in reality never took place. The resulting situations are full of psychological tension, alluding to a search for identity and a sense of loneliness, alienation and unfulfillment and can be read on many different levels of interpretation – as a present-day version of the Narcissus story, as a narrative about melancholy, or as homoerotic love. This ongoing intimate series touches upon the blurring of the boundaries between reality and its artistic representation – a problem long present in Wojciech Gilewicz’s painting and painting-and-photography works, installations, performative actions and videos.

 

CV

EDUCATION

1999

Master’s Degree in Painting, Minor in Photography

1996 – 1999

Academy of Fine Arts Painting Department Warsaw, Poland

1994 – 1996

Academy of Fine Arts Painting Department Poznan, Poland

SOLO EXHIBITIONS (selected)

2013

Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts Painter’s Painting, Taipei, Taiwan

Zacheta National Gallery of Art Project Room Arcus, Warsaw, Poland

2012

Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology Intrude, Cracow, Poland

Flux Factory Residency Unlimited, New York, USA

2009

Foksal Gallery, Warsaw, Poland

2008

Contemporary Art Museum Saint Louis, USA

2007

Museum of Fine Arts Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine

2006 – 2007

Entropia Gallery The Aporia of Painting, Wroclaw, Poland

2005

Foksal Gallery, Warsaw, Poland

2004

Fondation Deutsch de la Meurthe, Paris, France

2001

Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle / Laboratorium Gallery City – Estate – Studio –

Apartment, Warsaw, Poland

GROUP EXHIBITIONS (selected)

2014

The Boiler / Momenta Art Seven, New York, USA

The Africa Centre Infecting the City, Cape Town, South Africa

2013

Queens Museum of Art Queens International 2013, New York, USA

Beit Ha’air Museum for Urban Culture Plain, Tel Aviv, Israel

Piano Nobile Paper Jam #2, Geneva, Switzerland

2012

IDEAS 40203 Alternate Painterly, Louisville, USA

Wroclaw Contemporary Museum The Artificial Fullmoon, Wroclaw, Poland

NURTUREart Videorover: Season 4, New York, USA

2010

FRAC (Fonds Regional d’Art Contemporain) Limousin Electro Geo, Limoges, France

Changdong Art Studio of National Museum of Contemporary Art A Day in the Market, Seoul, Korea

ISCP (International Studio and Curatorial Program) Gallery There Has Been No Future, There Will Be No Past. Challenging Cultural Profiling in Central and Eastern European Art, New York, USA

LMCC (Lower Manhattan Cultural Council) / Governors Island Floating World, New York, USA

Lviv Art Palace The Power of Art, Lviv, Ukraine

2009

castillo/corrales Hello Goodbye Thank You Again, Paris, France

Museum of Contemporary Art BELGRADE: NONPLACES. Art in public space, Belgrade, Serbia

Aspen Art Museum Monitaur, Aspen, USA

MoBY (Museums of Bat Yam) Factory, Bat Yam, Israel

Zendai Museum of Modern Art Starting Point: Intrude Art & Life 366, Shanghai, China

SculptureCenter In Practice, New York, USA

2008

Plumbers’ Hall Around the Coyote Art Festival, Chicago, USA

Pianissimo Distortion of an Unendurable Reality, Milan, Italy

2007

Muzem Sztuki in Lodz Multi-way Street annex to the exhibition Beautiful Losers, Lodz, Poland

Paul Robeson Galery Imago: The Drama of Self-Portraiture In Recent Photography, Newark, USA

Zacheta National Gallery of Art / Kordegarda Gallery Here a Change Occurs, Warsaw, Poland

2006

Real Art Ways POZA, Hartford, USA

LiveBox at Ravenswood Space, Place & Interface, Chicago, USA

Zacheta National Gallery of Art On Their Own, Warsaw, Poland

2003

National Museum / Krolikarnia, Warsaw, Poland

SCREENINGS (selected)

2012

Standard Hotel 11th Annual FABnyc Benefit Event, New York, USA

2011

Videoholica International Video Art Festival, Varna, Bulgaria

Haus der Kulturen der Welt Fake Estates / Les Rencontres Internationales, Berlin, Germany

Reina Sophia National Museum Fake Estates / Les Rencontres Internationales, Madrid, Spain

14 Media Art Biennale WRO 2011 Alternative Now, Wroclaw, Poland

Palais de Tokyo / The Tokyo Bar Souvenirs from the Earth.tv, Paris, France

2010

Pompidou Center Fake Estates / Les Rencontres Internationales, Paris, France

6th Ave / 29th St The Big Screen Project, New York, USA

Pratt Manhattan Gallery Art in Odd Places, New York, USA

Dumbo Arts Center video_dumbo, New York, USA

Haus der Kulturen der Welt Capitalismus / Les Rencontres Internationales, Berlin, Germany

Reina Sophia National Museum Capitalismus / Les Rencontres Internationales, Madrid, Spain

2009

Pompidou Center Capitalismus / Les Rencontres Internationales, Paris, France

2008

West Germany A snake on a Tree, Berlin, Germany

Monkey Town A snake on a Tree, New York, USA

Foksal Gallery Museum Night, Warsaw, Poland

White Box DiVA (Digital & Video Art), New York, USA

AWARDS, GRANTS, RESIDENCES (selected)

2014

Art Omi International Artists’ Residency, Ghent, USA

Queens Council on the Arts Grant, New York, USA

2013

Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts Residency, Taipei, Taiwan

Utah Museum of Contemporary Art Catherine Doctorov Prize for Contemporary Painting

finalist, Salt Lake City, USA

2012

Residency Unlimited, New York, USA

2011

Arcus Project Residency, Ibaraki, Japan

AIAV (Akiyoshidai International Art Village) Residency, Yamaguchi, Japan

2010

Changdong Art Studio of National Museum of Contemporary Art Residency, Seoul, Korea

National Museum of Contemporary Art Grant, Seoul, Korea

UNESCO-Aschberg Grant, Paris, France

LMCC (Lower Manhattan Cultural Council) Residency, New York, USA

2009

Rema Hort Mann Foundation nominee (video), New York, USA

TAV (Taipei Artist Village) Residency, Taipei, Taiwan

2008

Zendai Museum of Modern Art Residency, Shanghai, China

ISCP (International Studio and Curatorial Program) Residency, New York, USA

2004

Fondation Deutsch de la Meurthe Residency, Paris, France

WORKSHOPS, PRESENTATIONS AND LECTURES (selected)

2013

Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts Invisible Painting, Workshop, Taipei, Taiwan

Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts Open Studio, Presentation, Taipei, Taiwan

Zacheta National Gallery of Art Project Room Arcus, Presentation, Warsaw, Poland

2012

Residency Unlimited RU Talk: Wojciech Gilewicz w/ Boshko Boskovic, Discussion and screening,

New York, USA

2011

AIT (Arts Initiative Tokyo) Minglius with Arcus, Artist Talk, Tokyo, Japan

Tsukuba University Artist Talk, Tsukuba, Japan

Arcus Project Recycling Culture, Workshop, Moriya, Japan

Arcus Project Open Studio, Presentation, Moriya, Japan

AIAV (Akiyoshidai International Art Village) Open Studio, Presentation, Yamaguchi, Japan

YICA (Yamaguchi Institute of Contemporary Art) Presentation,Yamaguchi, Japan

Yamaguchi University Presentation, Yamaguchi, Japan

2010

LMCC (Lower Manhattan Cultural Council) Open Studio, Presentation, New York, USA

2009

TAV (Taipei Artist Village) Giraffe Kindergarten, Workshop, Taipei, Taiwan

TAV (Taipei Artist Village) Open Studio, Presentation, Taipei, Taiwan

TAV (Taipei Artist Village) Who’s afraid of abstraction? Presentation and workshop, Taipei, Taiwan

2007

Zacheta National Gallery of Art KMS: Art Lovers Club, Presentation and workshop, Warsaw, Poland

CATALOGUES AND BOOK PUBLICATIONS (selected)

Intrude Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology, Cracow, Poland 2014 (in preparation)

Pracownia / Studio Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Art, Cracow, Poland 2014 (in print)

The Front Room. Artist’s Projects at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis 2008-2013 Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, USA 2014

Queens International 2013 Queens Museum of Art, New York, USA 2014

ARCUS Residency for Artists, Experiments for Locals ARCUS Project Administration Committee, Ibaraki, Japan 2013

Room with a View Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland 2012

BELGRADE: NONPLACES / art in public space Salon of the Museum of Contemporary Art and public space, Belgrade, Serbia 2009

Factory Bat Yam Museums of Art, Israel 2009

Wojciech Gilewicz Foksal Gallery, Warsaw, Poland 2009

Oni / Them Wojciech Gilewicz Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, Poland 2009

POZA Real Art Ways, Hartford, USA 2008

Wojciech Gilewicz Revitalisations BWA Gallery, Sanok, Poland 2007

Wojciech Gilewicz The Aporia of Painting (DVD + booklet) Entropia Gallery, Wroclaw, Poland 2007

Multi-way Street annex to the exhibition Beautiful Losers. Contemporary Art and Street Culture Muzem Sztuki in Lodz,

Poland 2007

Imago: The Drama of Self-Portraiture In Recent Photography Paul Robeson Gallery, Newark, USA 2007

Wojciech Gilewicz Foksal Gallery, Warsaw, Poland 2005

Wojciech Gilewicz Arsenal Gallery, Bialystok, Poland 2002

individual catalogues are accessible as PDF on: http://gilewicz.net/catalogues

BIBLIOGRAPHY (selected)

Brushstrokes. Reflections on Wojciech Gilewicz’s Recent Work, Marco Antonini, ArtPulse Spring 2012

http://artpulsemagazine.com/brushstrokes-reflections-on-wojciech-gilewiczs-recent-work

In Practice, Lori Cole, ArtForum, February 2009 (group show review)

http://artforum.com/picks/id=22032&view=print

Transfert, Emily Verla Bovino, Frieze Magazine, September 2008 (group show review)

http://www.frieze.com/shows/review/transfert/

BIOGRAFICAL FILMS

Sale / Wyprzedaż by Wojciech Gilewicz Pleple.tv, Warsaw, Poland 2011 (educational film on painting medium)

CUBOIDS, video, 10 min, 2014 (work in progress)

 

PAINTER’S PAINTING, video, 14 min, 2010-2014 (work in progress)

 

AKIYOSHIDAI, video, 10 min (fragment), 2012