Adam Nowacki, born in 1967 in Bydgoszcz. He studied at the Faculty of Painting and Graphic Arts of the PWSSP in Gdańsk, in the graphic design studio of Prof. Jerzy Krechowicz, and in the painting study of Prof. Henryk Cześnik. Diploma in painting in 1994, with an annex in the field of graphic arts taught by Prof. Wiesław Dębski. Painter. Adam Nowacki presented his works in Bydgoszcz in 1993. Now, after twenty years, he will show his latest works from the years 2011-2013, created with his own technique, mixed on cardboard. These are the cycles titled, for example, The Scarecrow, Frayed Ends of Sanity, started during his stay in Australia in late 2010 and 2011, continued in a variety of expressive and colourful arrangements to the present.

Solo exhibitions:
1989 -Student Gallery WLOT, Gdańsk
1993 -Modern Art Salon BWA
1994 -Palace in Ostromecko near Bydgoszcz
2001 -ZPAP Gallery, Gdańsk
Selected group exhibitions:
1990 -GAZ, exhibition of the students of PWSSP in Gdańsk, Starogard Gdański
1994 -2nd Biennial of Bydgoszcz Art, Modern Art Salon BWA, Bydgoszcz
2001 -Man on the Threshold of 21st Century, ZPAP, Gdańsk District, State Gallery of Art, Sopot
2002 -Us towards the 21st Century, Senate of the Republic of Poland, Warsaw

Backgrounds in the works by Adam Nowacki have their meaning of a nameless, undetermined space that doesn’t suggest anything. Created with paints finely dispersed in different directions, they are usually of a single colour scheme, but with a complex structure of tones and nuances. The author applies subdued colours -greens, ochre, blues, browns. In these abstract spaces he places, or rather suspends, a human form without any object reference for it. It’s always a lonely man deprived of corporeality, torn within. He’s painted mostly in the colours of the background, with the addition of shades of pink and violet, and creates a contrasting structure. Lost physicality disappears in strong extra patches of grey and, increasing the tragic nature of the presentation. This man is only partially lost in the abstract structure of coloured stains. Adam Nowacki does not deprive him of the head or feet. Here is the focus of his attention, he retains a great deal of realism. The face is old or deformed, the deformation frightening, often frozen screaming. Feet in painterly terms, painted with a line, are also tortured. The arrangement of degraded bodies very often resembles the motif of the Crucifixion. There is pain, suffering, internal dilemma, it’s a man in extreme situations. Expression of performance is the essence of the works. They have no narration, they do not illustrate the reality these are the images of emotions.
The author paints, subjects himself to the process of creation using different measures and ways to obtain the most satisfactory effect, he is subjected to chance, which forces him to the next step, the next operation he seeks to create a perfect, aesthetic form. What does he want to convey in his paintings nothing, except what people want to see in them -so said Francis Bacon of his works in the same way Adam Nowacki described the reception of his work. But he denies the inspiration by Bacon’s painting, despite many references that can be found in his works. The author is fascinated with Albrecht Dürer, Mathis Grünewald’s Crucifixion, self-portraits of the old Rembrandt this can be sensed in the presented works.
In 1993, the author exhibited his student works at the BWA Gallery in Bydgoszcz. The formal and semantic features of those works are in a similar range as the current cycle created between 2011-2013. The theme of a lonely man remains, but the expression has intensified -it is an important element in the process of painting -Adam Nowacki wants to give himself to the audience in the whole complex structure of the life and work of the artist. The same size of cardboard, similar technology, the same code, as pages of the journal, a pictorial record of emotions instead of sentences.
Elżbieta Kantorek