Andrzej Banachowicz | AREAS OF EXPLORATION

Andrzej Banachowicz | AREAS OF EXPLORATION

Gallery Nowa Scena UAP, 28 Marcinkowskiego Ave.
Opening: 17.10.2024, 18:00
Duration of exhibition: 17.10 – 10.11.2024

Curator: Rafał Boettner- Łubowski

The exhibition entitled ANDRZEJ BANACHOWICZ/AREAS OF EXPLORATION, at the Nowa Scena UAP Gallery in Poznań, presents the diverse creative explorations of Andrzej Banachowicz. The charismatic artist has worked as an academic teacher-professor at the Magdalena Abakanowicz University of Arts in Poznań (UAP, formerly the Academy of Fine Arts and the State Higher School of Fine Arts in Poznań) for many decades. His achievements are among the most outstanding contemporary manifestations of creative activity in the area of unique textiles in Poland. The exhibition features both selected artistic textiles and digital photographic images which are printed on metal and contain some self-quotations from textiles and installations Professor Banachowicz has previously created. Accompanying the exhibition is a bilingual publication presenting these artistic achievements in a synthetic way. Given the artist’s abundant oeuvre, both the exhibition and the aforementioned theoretical study are only a small prelude to many more monumental initiatives of this kind which are planned for the future. The exhibition ANDRZEJ BANACHOWICZ/AREAS OF EXPLORATION has been organised thanks to the great support and kindness of His Magnificence the Rector, prof. dr hab. Maciej Kurak and the Vice-Rector of UAP, prof. dr hab. Piotr Szwiec, as well as dr hab. Igor Mikoda, UAP professor and the Dean of the Faculty of Sculpture (the faculty where Professor Banachowicz was a teacher for many years). The exhibition has been curated by Professor dr hab. Rafał Boettner-Łubowski (who has also edited the aforementioned publication). Aleksander Radziszewski created the visual arrangement of the exhibition in collaboration with the curator.

ANDRZEJ BANACHOWICZ (born in Nowa Sól in 1952) – a Polish artist, professor, habilitated doctor (post-doctoral title), employed at the Faculty of Sculpture at the Magdalena Abakanowicz University of Arts in Poznań. He is one of the most outstanding contemporary creators of unique textiles in Poland. He studied art at the State Higher School of Fine Arts in Poznań in 1973–1978. He obtained diplomas with distinction: from the Studio of Sculpture Design in Architecture and Urban Planning in Professor Jan Berdyszak’s studio and from Professor Witold Gyurkovich’s Studio of Exhibition Design. In 1980, he started work as an assistant at the State Higher School of Fine Arts in Poznań. For slightly over a decade, he assisted the outstanding artist and academic teacher Professor Urszula Plewka-Schmidt, initially, for a year, in the Colour Direction Studio at the Department of General Artistic Education of the Faculty of Interior Architecture and Industrial Design of the State Higher School of Fine Arts in Poznań, and then in the 2^nd Tapestry Studio at the Department of Painting of the Faculty of Painting, Graphics and Sculpture of the aforementioned university. In 1988, he obtained his first-degree qualifications and became an assistant professor, and in 1991,his second-degree qualifications in the field of artistic fabric. From 1 October 1993, he was an associate professor at the State Higher School of Fine Arts in Poznań. The title of professor of fine arts was awarded to the artist in 1997 by the President of the Republic of Poland Aleksander Kwaśniewski. In 1992, he became head of the 2^nd Artistic Fabric Studio at the Faculty of Painting, Graphics and Sculpture of his alma mater, and later at the Faculty of Painting of the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań. The aforementioned studio then transferred to the Faculty of Sculpture and Spatial Activities of the aforementioned university in 2009. The name of the studio was changed twice (to the 10^th Studio of Sculpture in the 2011/2012 academic year and to the 5^th Studio of Sculpture and Spatial Activities – Weaving Objects in 2019). Professor Banachowicz headed this studio until the end of the 2022/2023 academic year. Currently, he conducts artistic and research activities at his alma mater and gives classes in anatomical drawing for first-year part-time first-cycle students of graphic arts. From 1996 to 2002, Professor Banachowicz was Vice-Rector for Art and Research at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań. In turn, from 2002 to 2011, Professor Banachowicz was a member of the Polish Accreditation Committee at the Minister of Science and Higher Education, and from 2013 to 2019, a member of the Central Commission for Degrees and Titles and chairman of the 7^th Art Section of the aforementioned commission. After the Central Commission for Degrees and Titles ceased activity the artist was chairman of the Art Team of the Council for Scientific Excellence from 2019 to 2023. From 2019, Professor Banachowicz was also, for a short time, a member of the University Council of the University of the Arts in Poznań. In 2003, he was a visiting professor at Slippery Rock University (giving workshops in the areas of sculpture and art tapestry). In 2008, he was participated in and was the only representative of Poland at the TAPESTRY 2008 Symposium: The Fine Art of Weaving, organized by The Australian National University, School of Art, Canberra. Andrzej Banachowicz researches the issues of art, its contemporary transformations and the changes taking place within the latest sculpture and artistic fabric. He works with artistic fabric, installation and spatial objects. Since 2015, he has also been creating digital photographic images, printed on metal, containing selected self-quotations from fabrics and installations from earlier creations. The artist has had many solo exhibitions and has also participated in group exhibitions in Poland and abroad. His works can be found in numerous collections in Poland and abroad. Since 2018, Banachowicz has been a member of the Programme Council of the Centre of Polish Sculpture in Orońsko. In 2019, he was awarded the Gold Medal for Merit to Culture, ‘Gloria Artis’.