Henryk LASKOWSKI (b. 1951), Contempt, 1978

lithograph, paper, 89 x 60 cm, e.a. 9/14, signed p.d.: Henryk Laskowski 78. Delicate stains and creases in lower right corner (outside composition).

Born in 1951 in Żary near Żagań. Graduated from the State Higher School of Visual Arts (now UAP) in Poznan, at the Faculty of Painting, Graphics and Sculpture, majoring in Graphic Arts. Diploma with honors in the Lithography studio under the direction of Prof. Lucjan Mianowski. Appendix in the illustration and poster studio of Prof. Waldemar Swierzy. In the 1980s he was engaged in publishing graphics (book illustration, cover designs, poster), drawing and painting. The year 1981 stopped him in accidental emigration in France. He lived in Paris until 1983. After returning to Poland, he kept in touch with France for the next dozen years, making annual trips to Paris and Normandy. His stay in France, the magic of Paris and his trips to Italy were reflected in his work and still resonate today in the paintings he creates. In his paintings he moves in the circle of widely understood urban themes. He is also interested in landscape, nature, man and society. He draws inspiration for his paintings from the surrounding reality, mass culture, film and literature. Laskowski, aware of both the tradition and contemporary development of painting, also draws on another medium that is so important for modernity - photography. For him, the camera is both a notebook and a sketchbook. He interprets the fragments of reality captured by the eye of the lens using the means inherent in painting. He describes the surrounding reality using the language of poetic metaphor. In his works one can find references to pop art, metaphorical realism or surrealism.

Selected individual and group exhibitions:

2020 - post-competition exhibition of the 4th L. Wyczółkowski National Painting Competition, BWA City Gallery, Bydgoszcz.
2020 - Libra Gallery, Warsaw (solo exhibition).
2019 - "Japan & Poland. Exhibition commemorating the 100th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations", EMP Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2019 - "Robinson's Ship. International Exposition of Contemporary Art", City Gallery and Museum of Architecture, Wroclaw, Poland.
2019 - "Japan & Poland. Exhibition Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations," Institute of Information and Culture of the Embassy of Japan, Warsaw, Poland
2018 - "Reality of illusions", U Gallery, Warsaw (solo exhibition).
2018 - "Realism. Two Views," BWA City Gallery, Bydgoszcz, Poland.
2016 - "Art Confrontations," Test Gallery, Warsaw.
2016 - "On the road", Next Gallery, Bydgoszcz.
2016 - 25th Festival of Polish Contemporary Painting, Pomeranian Dukes' Castle, Szczecin.
2015 - post-competition exhibition of the 5th International Drawing Competition, M.E. Andriolli Gallery, Nałęczów Cultural Center
2015 - "Contemporary Polish Art", Parliament of the European Commission, Helsinki, Finland.
2015 - CDEF Gallery, Olsztyn (solo exhibition).
2013 - "Woman in the Interior", SD Wilanów Gallery, Warsaw (solo exhibition)
2012 - exhibition on the occasion of the XXX anniversary of the U Gallery, U Gallery, Warsaw.
2011 - Gallery U, Warsaw (solo exhibition)
2011 - "Kunst aus Polen", Town Hall, Stuttgart, Germany
2010 - Galleria Poliedro, Trieste, Italy
2009 - "Paris L'Obsession - Obsession Paris", SD Wilanów Gallery, Warsaw, Poland.
2009 - "Visible, Invisible", Plock Art Gallery, Plock.
2008 - "Polish Surrealists", SD Panorama Gallery, Warsaw.
2007 - "Knock, knock, knock to Paradise Gate", Art Depot Gallery, Warsaw (solo exhibition).
2003 - Warsaw Review of Fine Arts, DAP, Warsaw.
2001 - "Argonauts of the Third Republic", Museum of the History of the Polish People's Movement, Warsaw.
1998 - Darmstadt House, Plock (individual exhibition).
1997 - Municipal Center of Culture, Radom
1994 - post-competition exhibition of the National Contest , "Days of Fighting Warsaw" on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising, Museum of the Polish Army, Warsaw.
1992 - "Warsaw Decade of Art", DAP, Warsaw.
1990 - post-competition exhibition of the National Olympic Competition, Museum of Sport, Warsaw.
1982 - "Exposition des Artistes Polonais," Galerie Atelier2, Paris - la Defense, France.
1979 - 6th All-Poland Post-Competition Exhibition of Prints, BWA, Lodz, Poland.
1979 - 7th Bienal Internacional del Deporte, Barcelona, Spain
1976 - "Interdebiut '76", International Student Graphics Review, Cracow, Poland
1975 - 3rd Biennale Internationale de L'Image, France

Works in the collections of the Museum of the Polish Army, the Museum of the History of the Polish People's Movement and in private collections at home and abroad (France, Italy, USA).

Awards and distinctions:

Awarded several times in poster competitions in the '80s.

1980 - Paris. Honorable mention in the International Competition for graphics for the UNESCO calendar.
1980 - Moscow. Distinction in the International Competition for the Olympic poster
1990 - 3rd prize for drawing in the National Olympic Competition in Warsaw.
1994 - 2nd prize for painting in the National Art Contest on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising.