Tomasz Kawiak (b. 1943, Lublin), "Flight Above the Jeans' Nest," 1988

Biography
The artist is one of the most distinctive creators of his generation. He studied painting and interior architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, graduating in 1968. He remained connected to his alma mater, working as an assistant in the ceramics studio at the Department of Painting from 1968 to 1970. In 1970, he presented the performance “Tomek Kawiak’s Pain,” during which he bandaged trees on one of Lublin’s streets that had been mutilated by city workers. That same year, he left for Paris, where he continued his artistic education at the École des Beaux-Arts. He is known for his original artistic actions, including the “brick-laying” (briquetage), in which the artist would leave identical bricks fired from red clay, measuring 20 x 10 x 3 cm, at the places he visited during his numerous travels.