Wernisaż: 10 września 2026, godz. 19:00

Ryszard Woźniak is an artist who consistently eschews an individual, recognisable style. For him, the entire visual realm is a field of constant exploration. He draws on images of various kinds and origins. “For my conception of art,” he writes, “the concept of the image is fundamental. It is within the image that crucial determinations are made regarding the values accepted or rejected by society. The image organises reality; it is an expression of mastery over the fluidity of the world of phenomena.” It should be added that Woźniak regards art as a ‘cognitive practice’, consisting precisely in the creation of images.

About the exhibition

The exhibition ‘The Cat’s Bell’ is personal and, in a sense, unique. Woźniak presents two series of paintings based on the childhood drawings of his daughters – Matylda and Julia. Some of them were created a long time ago – over a quarter of a century ago (1998–1999) – and were shown publicly only once, at the Eljot Furniture Gallery in Warsaw (at the turn of 1999 and 2000). Some were also included in a graduation exhibition at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław (2001) and at the ‘Zachęta’ in the exhibition ‘Polonia, Polonia’. We are therefore dealing with a body of work of historical significance. The 10 new paintings, however, were created specifically for this exhibition, also based on his daughters’ surviving childhood drawings. Woźniak has consistently returned to works that have become a source of spontaneous and selfless artistic expression for him.

Children’s drawings as a source of imagery

Since the 19th century, children’s artistic activity has attracted the interest of researchers, artists and collectors. One of the first researchers was the eminent Italian art historian and archaeologist Corrado Ricci, author of the seminal work *L’arte dei bambini* (1887). In Poland, the pioneer of such research was the eminent psychologist, now somewhat forgotten, Professor Stefan Szuman, author of the book *Sztuka Dziecka. Psychologia twórczości rysunkowej dziecka* (Children’s Art: The Psychology of Children’s Drawing) (1927). The art of ‘others’, ‘raw’ art, formed the basis of Jean Dubuffet’s innovative approach, whilst Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky consciously re-examined traditional conventions of representation. And, of course, the greatest of the greats – Pablo Picasso. He is credited with the famous saying that, as a child, he painted like Raphael, but it took him a lifetime to learn to paint like a child. The art of Edward Dwurnik demonstrates just how much power lies in this turn towards naïve directness. Yet in all the approaches mentioned here – diverse as they are – the ultimate goal becomes a new ‘personal style’. Woźniak does not strive for this. He is concerned with visual innovation and a certain pictorial energy, as well as something that relates to real reality. The triptych *The Crown of Painting*, based on a child’s drawing of a ‘princess’, is in essence a bitter assessment of the state of painting. In the years when the painting was created, painting seemed to be in retreat. That is why – as he explains – he used ‘faded’ colours, ‘but there is red, yellow and blue, and there is potential, because a crown lying on a table can always end up on someone’s head.’ All these ‘princesses’, painted in 1999, may today take on a dimension of feminist reclaiming, whilst the painting ‘Crown of the Third Republic of Poland’ evokes the name of the state as set out in the 1997 constitution.

In this way, through his children’s drawings, Woźniak touches upon the key issues of the reality of that time. For in his daughters’ drawings, too, the outside world is clearly present. The turn of the century was a time of a brutal war in the Balkans; whilst the theme of war does not feature in Woźniak’s daughters’ drawings, devils and angels, and halos do appear – somehow, this spontaneous reaction to reality can be interpreted, albeit indirectly. This also allowed Woźniak, as it were, to elaborate on these contextual references in the moving painting *Song for Kosovo*.

In using his daughters’ drawings, Woźniak endeavoured to faithfully preserve their style and manner of depiction. The fundamental change concerns scale. The drawings were small, whilst the paintings are, for the most part, large. A child is unable to master such a format, but this is the only significant change compared to the ‘originals’.

Images from 2026

In his new series of 10 paintings, Woźniak has drawn on earlier drawings by his two daughters, which lack any clear ‘story’ or narrative. They are, as it were, ‘portraits’ of a horse, a hare, a moth or a spider. These are very simple depictions. Sometimes the artist has added to them – the drawing of a horse is given a screen in which the horse can see its reflection (‘Screen and Horse’). ‘Sprinter’ is a hare that used to steal carrots from the vegetable patch. All of this stems from observations made through a child’s eyes – that curiosity about nature and the world. The paintings in the new series are more graphic, perhaps as a result of the decision to select these earlier drawings. But even here there are surprising scenes, such as ‘Let’s Cook Together’ – an angel and a devil are weighing soup in a cauldron that has a face. Woźniak does not rule out that this might be a visualisation of a parental warning that someone might mess with your head.

The personal and unique character of this exhibition is also influenced by the venue itself and the fact that the artist’s childhood and youth are linked to this place. Woźniak lived with his parents in a house at 24 Elektoralna Street. From the windows, he could see the empty expanse of the devastated city and the Hala Mirowska building. Where one of the blocks of flats in the Osiedle za Żelazna Bramą estate now stands (and where the gallery is located), there used to be a meadow where he used to catch cockchafers in May. One might say that his childhood images, somewhere in his mind’s eye, are juxtaposed with the images of his daughters.

Signature

There is also one particular painting in the exhibition – ‘Signature’, depicting two black cats, one with blue eyes and the other with green. Julia – the younger daughter – has green eyes, whilst Matylda has blue ones. This is a subtle and endearing reference to the artists behind the children’s drawings used by the painter. And as a real signature – the prints of the cats’ paws.

Waldemar Baraniewski
Exhibition curator

10 September – 10 October 2026