Maciej Urbanek
(Polish, b. 1979)
Maciej's starting point is the world around him: water, plants, grains of sand, even impoverished materials such as bin bags. Through his lens and visual manipulation he elevates his subjects into rich multilayered statements about beauty, existence and God, through visual and sensorial excess freed from the responsibility of indexing reality.
Maciej has always emphasised that his photographic works reference the language of painting and drawing; figuration and abstraction, perspective, openness and expansion through multiple entry and exit points. Coming full circle, he recently expanded his focus on to painting in a some what auto referential manner.
Maciej’s latest works come from a series he produced during a residency in Cape Town, South Africa in March 2017. Vivid colours and the lack of end points transport us to the vastness of the South African landscape as summer turns to autumn.
Open Form no. 7, 2013
archival inkjet print
70 x 100 cm., ed. of 50
[Ref. MU1]
Red Grammar No. 1, 2017
archival inkjet print
70 x 100 cm., ed. of 50
100 x 150 cm., ed. of 10
[Ref. MU3]
Art Africa, 2017 | Interior shot | photo credit: ©Maciej Urbanek, 2017
Art Africa,2017
oil on canvas
30 x 21 cm.
[Ref. MU2]
“I am concerned with the territory occupied by both painting and photography that operates within the confines of two-dimensionality, stillness and silence. “ - M. Urbanek
“My attempt is to reconcile the banality of everyday life with longing for poetry and beauty. “ - M. Urbanek
Maciej is a visual artist, curator and academic, currently a tutor at the Royal Academy Schools. His work has been placed in important private and corporate collections and is included in the 2017 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Jungle Fever, a 20 metre long site specific installation is currentlyon view at the Mondrian Hotel,London.
Open Form No. 2 at the Art Rooms III, February-March 2017