September 1, 2012

Press Release
Contact: Christopher Kamyszew
Tel. 773-486-9612
Fax 773-486-9613
e-mail: societyforarts@societyforarts.com

ReVISION WORKS BY XAWERY WOLSKI. OPENS 2012/13 EXHIBITION SEASON IN
1112 GALLERY OF THE SOCIETY FOR ARTS

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REvision, the exposition of works by Xawery Wolski opens the 2012/13 Society for Arts’ exhibition season at 1112 Gallery (1112 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago) on Friday, September 21, 2012, from seven to ten o’clock in the evening. The artist will be present to answer questions from general audience and media as well as sign a limited edition exhibition poster and a coffee-table book.

Over thirty works on the show will include bronze, terracotta, thread and wood sculpture, drawings, prints on cyntra, installations. The works embrace a period of fifteen years, from 1998 until the ones executed recently. Wolski’s drawings and sculpture are delicate, monochromatic and poetic. They often impersonate the human body or its various parts, such as bones, teeth, breasts and torsos. Other works appear as cells, fossils, sea shells, pods and seeds. He focuses his artistic activity to experiment with terracotta, bronze, steel, seeds, and natural fibers, in order to synthesize certain organic forms with intention of impregnating them with a spiritual, complex and thoughtful energy. Although their subject matter is fragile, they ambiguously exist as reflections of the past. The idea behind his art practice can be defined as an interest in building bridges between material, artistic heritage and his personal concerns.

Peruvian art critic Paulo Hekenhoff wrote about the artist on the occasion of his exhibit in Nation’s Museum in Lima, Peru in 1996: Wolski’s artwork converges to define an art of temperatures. The memory of the firing of clay is there, as is that of volcanic lava, the beating of the metal, the sanguine heart of the monotypes. That circulation of temperature indicates a flow of energy in the work of Wolski.

Edwin Treitler added in March of 2012: In Xawery’s work there is a sense of the exhumed fossil, the basic skeletal structure of nature: bone, shells, cocoons, stone. These he elevates into icons or esthetic networks, the connectivity he deems so essential to life. He also makes very large ritual necklaces and gowns, made from fish bone, wire, bean. These are hung on walls like museum display of a past civilization. If worn, these ceremonial garments would connect the wearer or initiate the forms of nature. Xawery also is fascinated by drops of water, and will draw hundreds of water drops with meticulous repetition, again connecting the network of living matter on paper.

Xawery Wolski was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1960. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts of Warsaw and Paris. In the 1980’s he also travelled to New York to expand his practice. In 1985, he installed his studio in Carrara, Italy, remaining there for three years to experiment with marble. In 1988, he returned to France to continue his education in the Ecole des Beaux Arts Province of Aix where he developed simultaneously his artistic and professional work as a teacher. In 1991, he received sculpture prize at the Niza Biennial. Three years later, he moved to Lima, Peru, obtaining support from French Ministry of Foreign Affairs to produce a site-specific exhibition. He moved to Mexico in 1997 to work in traditional techniques from various areas of the country and create a site-specific sculpture “Cadenas,” presently on display at the main entrance of the Rufino Tamayo Museum in Mexico City as part of its collection. In the following decade he had more than fifty solo shows, including National Gallery Zacheta and Pokaz Gallery in Warsaw, Poland; Modern Art Museum in Mexico City, Alejandro Sales Gallery in Barcelona, Spain; Miami, New York, Los Angeles, Houston. In 2008-2009, he developed diverse programs, through experimenting with materials manufactured in Asia, this as a result of his participation in an artistic residence offered by James HW Thompson Foundation of Thailand, which also held his exhibition. In 2011, he participated in the art residence Religare Arts Initiative Limited at New Dehli, India. One of the most outstanding artists of Polish descent nowadays, he currently lives and works in Mexico City.

The exhibition is open from September 21st to November 21st in the gallery hours or by appointment when special events are held. Admission is free. Further information is available at the Society for Arts by calling 773-486-9612 or visiting its official website www.societyforarts.com

The exhibition is made in collaboration with Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts, Miami, Florida. Additional works of Xawery Wolski will be exhibited in DLFA booth at the EXPO Chicago, International Exposition of Contemporary/Modern Art and Design at Navy Pier (September 20 – 23, 2012).

The Society for Arts acknowledges a generous support to the project from Jordan Food of Distinction and Star-tech Glass, Inc.

The Society for Arts is a non-profit 501 (c) 3 organization dedicated to a promulgation of works by international artists from various fields of art who combine or relate to another cultural traditions and work on borders of cultures. Established in December of 1981, the Society has been organizing exhibitions, film festivals and programs which stimulate artistic exchange between continents. Its 1112 Gallery has been open in the Society’s headquarters in Chicago from 1994.