WLODZIMIERZ KSIAZEK

Kouros Gallery is pleased to present its sixth solo exhibition of paintings by Wlodzimierz Ksiazek. Born in Warsaw, Poland, in 1951, he immigrated to the United States in the early 1980s, deciding not to become a citizen but a permanent U.S. resident. Today he lives as part of an extended community of gifted visual artists, poets, and critics who work within the Boston to New York megalopolis.

The commanding presence of Ksiazek's work, created by the unexpected collision of their immediacy, raw physicality and an air of subtle melancholy encompassing these laboriously worked canvases, is striking. He is recognized for mastering a genre of abstract painting that is heavily invested in encrypting personal and social references. His work expresses both violation and freedom, which gives it extraordinary power. The interplay of gestures and marks -- achieved by the scraping, dragging, and piling of paint -- underscores a sense of perpetual banishment and alienation, carving out a territory that is both symbolic and real. Throughout his works is the symbolic element of the artist as exile.

Despite the tremendous changes and turbulence since the 1970s, Ksiazek's painting has been the one, enduring constant in his life. Virtually every critic who has written about his work notes the partially effaced yet persistent layers of imagery and mark-making, the obscure yet present traces of thought that coexist across the vast surfaces. Consistently noted are Ksiazek's multiple levels of imagery (architecture, cartography, landscape), allusion (excavation/archaeology, topography, detachment/alienation, injury/torture), and meaning (social space, memory of place, injustice/abuse, individual freedoms/survival).

In the exhibition's brochure, the noted art critic and historian, Jonathan Goodman, writes, “Ksiazek's art reminds us that the history of the image being made has become as important as the image itself; this reliance on process makes it clear that the paintings document the importance of personal freedom - a necessary task for an artist who grew up under Poland's totalitarian state. Knowing this, Ksiazek's audience can look at his work with wonder, observing forms resulting from a disciplined craft as well as an ongoing awareness of art's penchant for intellectual independence.”

Ksiazek has exhibited extensively in the United States and in Europe. His work is in numerous public and private collections internationally.

An opening reception will be held Thurs., Feb. 5th, from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. On Sat., Feb. 21st, a poetry reading, featuring Anna Frajlich, Phillis Levin, and James McCorkle, will be held from 3:00 - 6:00 p.m.