The exhibition presents objects made of paper, an original method characteristic of the artist’s work. We will also see projects designed and inspired by the idea of gallery space, and video works. The main axis of the exhibition will be the title “reconstructions,” i.e. reprocessing, returning and restoring “wandering” forms rooted in the world of imagination, including that of childhood. The concepts such as mobility, displacement, moving order, are close to the presented works. Zbigniew Sałaj’s artistic thought touches upon the dynamics and shape of language, investigates the tension that arises at the junction of visual and linguistic message, and the mutual interaction and transformation of these forms.
Zbigniew Sałaj – painter, creator of objects and installations. Born in 1961 in Inowrocław, graduated from the Faculty of Painting of the High School of Fine Arts in Bydgoszcz, Faculty of Painting of the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. Graduated from the painting study of Prof. Jana Szancenbach in 1986 r. Currently employed as a professor in his home faculty, he runs the Interdisciplinary Laboratory.
He deals with easel painting, painting environment, drawing, paper objects, mobile objects, installation, photography, earth art and video. Creator of the idea of indifferent objects and a new concept of the essence of ornament. With a painting roller he covered the paintings and gallery space in many layers.
The most famous are static and moving objects made of paper, created with his original method, as well as objects referring to the concept of an artistic book. He processes paper blocks glued together by the edges, turning them into the form of compact objects or amorphous pieces, taking on a form depending on the position and shape of the substrate. He often creates objects that are susceptible to manipulation of their form by touch.
Author of over 30 individual exhibitions, participant in more than 80 group exhibitions in Poland and abroad, including shows of painting, drawing, paper objects, mobile installations, photography, outdoor activities.
The artist’s works can be found in the collections of the Malopolska Foundation of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow, the National Museum in Krakow, the Jagiellonian University Museum, the University of Freiburg (Switzerland), the Aalst City Museum (Belgium), the Book Museum in Lodz, the Library of the University of Lodz, the Central Museum of Textiles in Lodz, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (Germany), Stanford University Library (USA), San Giovanni Library in Pesaro (Italy), Musashino Art University Museum & Library in Tokyo (Japan), and in private collections in Poland, Germany, Switzerland, France, Austria, Italy, Lithuania, USA, Belgium, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

curator – Karolina Pikosz
Beginning: 04.07.2019
20 Gdańska St.
End: 01.09.2019