Dimensions: 30 x 19.5 cm (inside the frame)
Biography
Painter, sculptor, and author of commentaries on his own works. From 1974 to 1978, he studied at the Faculty of Visual Education at the University of Silesia in Katowice, Cieszyn branch. Initially, he focused on painting and sculpture. In the late 1960s, he created his first spatial installations and participated in artistic actions. In his painting, he challenged the traditional role of the painting and the role of the painter as a creator. He was interested in impersonal, mechanical painting that was, at the same time, joyful and vibrant. He used unconventional surfaces and painting materials (walls, mirrors, school notebooks, maps). He emulated folk methods of decorating one’s surroundings. From the late 1970s onward, issues of inscription—writing, books, and calligraphy—took center stage in Szewczyk’s art. Since 1981, he has been creating compositions from crayon shavings and wooden blocks glued to boards and canvases, then coated with wax, paint, and lead. The best-known works in Szewczyk’s oeuvre are those from the *Libraries* series (since 1986). They consist of wooden panels resembling books, covered with lead-based writing. The artist was associated with the Foksal Gallery in Warsaw and the Starmach Gallery in Kraków. His works are held in the collections of the Museum of Art in Łódź, the Zachęta Gallery in Warsaw, and the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom.
