Wystawy

Graphic art has been covering recently a significant part of the fine arts area. The tradition of Polish graphic art is rooted far in the Renaissance. However it flourished abundantly in the 19th century. Polish prints, especially small ones, reached excellence together with the development of illustrated magazines: “Wędrowiec” (The Traveller), “Kłosy” (The Ears of Grain), “Tygodnik Ilustrowany” (The Illustrated Weekly). The beginning of the 20th century brought new possibilities to graphic art due to the progress in mechanical copying. The interbellum was the next magnificent period for Polish graphic art when it got the panache of a new art language.

Right now we can see the heyday of graphic art all over the world. In recent decades it grasped some new copying techniques and technologies, while computer editing made experimenting almost effortless. More and more often graphic art stays in dialogue with other fine arts which makes the boundaries and differences smudge and diffuse, thus graphic works (prints) can be hardly recognizable by the viewers. With no doubt there is future for graphic art, because various transformations, discoveries, experiments keep taking place within it all the time; it’s very important, too, that graphic art has its fans, people of great sensitivity who focusing on prints can find in them beauty of lines, figures, forms, colours.

Good condition of Polish graphic art is proved by big both international and national competitions and cyclical exhibitions and shows: International Print Triennial in Kraków, International Triennial of Colour Prints in Toruń, Polish Graphic Art Triennial in Katowice, International Biennial of Digital Prints in Gdynia, Polish Woodcut and Linocut Quadriennial in Olsztyn, just to mention a few.

There are also numerous presentations of small prints, among others: International Exlibris and Small Print Biennial in Malbork, International Small Print and Exlibris Biennial in Ostrów Wielkopolski, International Triennial of Small Prints in Łódź.

Polish graphic artists show, quite successfully, their works at different exhibitions abroad, for example: Trienal Internacional de Gravura in Tallinn, Art Print Annual Mini-Print in Sofia, Mini-Print in Lahti (Finland), Mini Print International Cadaques in Barcelona, Tokyo International Mini-Print Triennial, International Print Biennial in Seoul, Biennial International Miniature Print Exhibition in Vancouver, Iowa Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary Miniature Prints.

We want do add to the latter list a Small Print 13×18 “The Dialogue with the Digital”. This project does not presume any topics, nor any limitations regarding applied techniques; it just encourages to fuse traditional techniques with modern digital ones. A participant must meet only one demand: a work should fit the area 13x18cm.

The intention of the organisers is to emphasize the beauty of miniature prints made by artists-pedagogues working at various art schools. There are 30 participants altogether: 23 from Poland, 1 from Denmark, 1 from Germany, 1 from Hungary, 1 from Slovenia, 1 from Macedonia, 2 from Ukraine, each showing 4 miniatures made within last two years. Each of them is strong individuality following their own clearly defined artistic way.

Group exhibitions are fields of art confrontations where different concepts and attitudes can collide, but their most important aim is to show truth and goodness in an art form through beauty and harmony. We do hope our presentation will bring these values to the viewers. This is so because a small print is a form of expression which demands from an artist all their skills and experience.

The project gives to the artist a possibility to present their artistic visions in the context of the others, however it plays also an important education role. It gives also the opportunity to organise in Kielce a cyclical art competition of international range and having the form of small print biennial.

We thank very much all the artists who showed their prints at the second edition of the Small Print 13×18 “The Dialogue with the Digital” project.

Waldemar Kozub

Relation Exhibitions

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