Tradition And Contemporaneity 2016

Brought together for a rare first-hand glimpse into contemporary print production and drawing in Krakow, we are pleased to be exhibiting work by artists from The Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, the oldest art academy in Poland established in 1818.
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These artists exhibit innovation through tradition. Adherence to traditional techniques is what is truly avant-garde here. As art production continues to be shaped, shifted, and shuffled by new waves of style brought about largely by individuals adhering to trendy post-minimal, expressive, slightly personalized abstraction (let us call it what it is, ‘zombie formalism’), we look to traditional technique for a truly forward-thinking mode of practice. Constraints of media hardly mean constraining content, as technical mastery gives itself to personal narratives. Mastery allows for freedom, and these artists approach their work through methods that allow for common ground, a platform on which to stand and make proclamations. This style of practice does not create a soapbox, but rather a mutual point from which to work. In other words, it brings about community. It is this notion that is truly important. We all have shared experiences that we often choose to ignore. Politics bifurcate interests despite a predominant commonality. Here, innovation is married to tradition; it is grounded through limits, but guided by individuality. 

Tomasz Daniec                          Piotr Panasiewicz
Joanna Kaiser                             Krzysztof Tomalski
Bogdan Miga                              Marcin Surzycki
Henryk Ozog                              Dariusz Vasina 
Mateusz Otreba