Marek SOBCZYK (b. 1956), Persian Art, 2008

egg tempera, cardboard; 70 x 100 cm;
signed, dated and described on the reverse: MAREK SOBCZYK 2008 / PERSA ART / [Slavic Antiquities on S, ¶ and Persian Art] (in pencil).

Marek Sobczyk graduated from the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts in the studio of Stefan Gierowski. He participated in the artistic activity centered in the Warsaw gallery - the Dziekanka studio, where the famous Gruppa art group was formed, including Ryszard Woźniak, Włodzimierz Pawlak, Ryszard Grzyb, Paweł Kowalewski, Jarosław Modzelewski. At that time he also co-edited the magazine "Oj dobrze już". He participated in exhibitions organized by Andrzej Bonarski at SARP and the Norblin Factory. The activities undertaken by Marek Sobczyk in the field of art cannot be put into a framework, which may be due to the socially turbulent, but very creative and independent time in art that was the 1980s. As the artist recalls, Gruppa's time was a time of discussion or sometimes a more intense exchange of opinions, a time of action. Such was also the expressive art of that time, based on the direct gesture of the artist, actionist art (also if it operated with classical, because painting means). Marek Sobczyk himself recalls: "In my experience, the greatest role was played by the transformation (sculptural category) of the conceptual achievement into the needs of painting in such a way as to make painting overpowering*". Here he also elaborated on the first of many footnotes: "*Henceforth, I will call all my activity, regardless of its nature and the medium used (actions, theoretical texts, spatial works), 'expanding painting'." Thus, Marek Sobczyk expands painting in his didactic activity conducted from 1989 to 2000 together with Jaroslaw Modzelewski, from the field of typography when from 1990 to 2004 together with Piotr Mlodożeniec he is involved in graphic design, leading since 2012 together with Mateusz Falkowski the film project "Wisława" or reconstructing a simple rainbow in front of the Warsaw Zachêta (1991/2019).