Iconic paintings by Wojciech Fangor, one of the most renowned Polish artists, will be presented on the 42nd floor of the Cosmopolitan apartment building. The exhibition entitled “FANGOR: Beyond the Visual Surface” will be organized on the 60th anniversary of the premiere of the artist’s ground-breaking installation named “The Study of Space.” The presentation of paintings from the private Jankilevitsch Collection is yet another exhibition held on the 42nd floor of Cosmopolitan. The images will be on display from 26 May.
The exhibition will present works from the 1960s and 1970s, i.e. the most important period of the artist’s work, during which multi-coloured, abstract compositions were created, built from circles, waves and amorphous shapes. The idea behind the exhibition was to show the artist’s works in the way he wanted them to be presented. The images will establish “a dialogue” with the surrounding space, as well as with the environment that can be viewed from the windows of the 42nd floor of Cosmopolitan.
– Wojciech Fangor’s main artistic concept, which he fully expressed in “The Study of Space”, was to create an area of mutually permeating energy of images. “The paintings presented without frames, arranged perpendicularly to each other, interacted with each other, but also with the viewer, who entered a work of art, becoming its integral part. Our exhibition will draw inspiration from that ground-breaking step taken by the artist 60 years ago – says Katarzyna Wąs, the curator of the exhibition.
Wojciech Fangor, next to Magdalena Abakanowicz, Roman Opałka and Tadeusz Kantor, is one of the most recognizable Polish artists worldwide. He is considered the founder of the “Polish School of Posters” and the author of the world’s first spatial installation entitled “The Study of Space”, prepared together with Stanisław Zamecznik. His great career began with the famous 1965 “Responsive Eye” exhibition at MoMA in New York. Five years later, Fangor became the first Polish artist to hold an individual exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. He presented there his 37 works, which were a development of his explorations in the field of minimal art. His works are currently very popular in Poland and they also enjoy great interest among collectors on world markets. Last year, the prices of four of his works exceeded PLN 1 million. The artist’s last most important project was designing murals for the station walls of the second line of the Warsaw Underground in 2014.
This one-of-a-kind exhibition of paintings by Wojciech Fangor is yet another element of the consistently implemented strategy by Tacit Investment, which in 3 years has transformed Cosmopolitan into the best place to live, as well as a vibrant centre of culture and art. Numerous concerts, meetings and exceptional exhibitions have attracted so far several thousand visitors. It is here where you could enjoy the exhibition of rarely presented paintings by Mela Muter, the works of Ryszard Horowitz or Wisława Szymborska, as well as listen to the concerts of Radzimir Dębski (JIMEK), Anna Maria Jopek or Tomasz Stańko.
– High quality culture and art, just like good architecture, doesn’t need extra promotion. In Cosmopolitan we have manage to combine the two worlds, focusing on the dialogue of the unique building with remarkable environment. With its architecture, Cosmopolitan has perfectly blended in with the surrounding area, and we are able to use its unique location to our advantage. We believe that culture and art should be easily accessible, hence the idea of a series of spectacular events, such as an exhibition of the most famous paintings by Wojciech Fangor. No other private gallery currently exhibits Fangor’s works, and here you will be able to admire them in the unique space of the 42nd floor of Cosmopolitan, with an unforgettable panorama of Warsaw in the background – says Karolina Kaim, the CEO of Tacit Investment.
The exhibition is accompanied by the premiere of Wojciech Fangor’s album entitled “Colour and Space”, published by Skira publishing house. This is the first international publication about the artist. The official premiere and a meeting with the author of the book, Magdalena Dąbrowski, will be held on 16 May in Desa Unicum, Warsaw.
– The book “Wojciech Fangor: Color and Space” intends to present his exceptional achievements to the English-speaking audiences around the world. During his long and productive life, Fangor created innovative works, using many ways of expression: painting, drawing, graphics, sculpture, spatial structures and environments. His artistic solutions and experimentations always conveyed originality, independence of thought, individualism and pioneering spirit. These elements were clearly visible in his exhibitions, independently of the medium or the creative period – says Magdalena Dąbrowski, a former curator of MoMA NY, currently an art consultant and author of the latest album about Wojciech Fangor.
Paintings by Wojciech Fangor will be displayed on the 42nd floor of Cosmopolitan from 26th May till 1st of July, every Saturday and Sunday between 2:00pm and 7:00pm. Entry is free.
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Jankilevitsch Collection is a private collection of modern and contemporary art. It has been built for over twenty years and focuses mainly on artists working within the abstract art, especially in the post-war avant-garde period. The main core of the collection are the works by artists who created in the 1950s-70s, including Magdalena Abakanowicz, Jan Berdyszak, Kajetan Sosnowski, Henryk Stażewski, Ryszard Winiarski and, of course, Wojciech Fangor. The collection is also regularly expanded by older art themes, such as constructivism, which built a foundation for avant-garde art. The collection also includes works by younger artists who use the works of avant-garde masters and translate them into the contemporary language.
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Tacit Investment and Cosmopolitan Twarda 4 have been promoting high culture and art for years. The unique space of the 42 floor of the apartment building has been the venue for many spectacular exhibitions and concerts. In autumn 2017, the 42nd floor of the building was transformed into a unique gallery, presenting the most important works of one of the most outstanding Polish artists of the 20th century – Mela Muter. Many of her portraits and landscapes were shown for the first time in Poland. The exhibition turned out to be a great success, as it was visited by nearly 9,000 people.
Last summer, Cosmopolitan combined the work of Radzimir Dębski (JIMEK) with that musical talents of the Young Polish Philharmonic. After a few days of rehearsals JIMEK on the 42nd floor, JIMEK took his music outside. The orchestra played two concerts, the first one on Cosmopolitan patio and the second one on the nearby Grzybowski Square. The spontaneous concert, which was promoted only in social media, attracted nearly 1,000 spectators.