Rafal Zawistowski "Eden" Catalogue

EDEN by

Rafal Zawistowski

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EDEN 12th November - 3rd December 2015

Rafal Zawistowski curated by Miguel Mallol

‘Eden’ Artists such as Brueghel or Bosh have depicted wondrous garden scenes that depict life at a slower pace, where nudity is normal and defects non-existent. This is the garden of life, of vivid colours and clear waters, where sin arrived and everything changed. Since then, the gates have been closed to all human beings and, following the bible scriptures, suffering arrived. The relationship man and nature has been represented throughout the history of art as a reflection of the artist’s emotional status, or between the artist and his perception of reality and of the unknown. During the Romanticism period, it was protagonist and majestic, giving the impressionism that reality was linked to colours and aesthetic sensations. Trees, bridges, houses and mountains where no longer static, suddenly they were alive. However, the arrival of expressionism presented the conflict between the ego and the figure itself which became more exaggerated and soon colour became the definitive means of expression.

Rafal Zawistowski is an artist for whom colour has been a close companion from his beginnings.

He absorbed and assimilated its importance and today he plays with it harmoniously. He studied the technique of the great masters but the final exhibition he presented after his year in Florence was stylistically more reminiscent of Rothko, Klee or Kandinsky than the Renaissance era masters that surrounded him in the city. Instead of a visual or formal influence, he was inspired by the clear patience, love and exigency. This clarified what was in his mind and how he wanted to express it through the canvas. But one thing has always been clear in his work; it will be sullied by the vibrant colours of life.

Over the years, his subjects have changed yet he always maintained a definite style. His figurative paintings did not represent figures but energies. His portraits were composed by the viewer’s retina

because on canvas they were an orgy of textures and materials. Closer inspection of his works leads to the sensation that the style he followed over the years has remained imperturbable.

His Eden is his private garden, where he gets lost with his dogs, canvases and paints. He breathes in the nature and plunges himself into the colours that the forest offers. The viewer can see a personal Eden in the calm that is evident in his paintings, in his compositions, in each touch and brushstroke, behind every layer. He plays with the material to sculpt the trees. The landscapes originally involved the spectator because they leapt from the canvas into physical space but this exhibition showcases Rafal’s artistic evolution by drawing the viewer into a colourful, textured landscape.

The dialogue between the trees and the visitor is not unlike a dance; their twisted trunks and shadows indicating the path to follow. The material communicates the living elements and the sky is not excessively relevant because the vibrant forest is all encompassing. Looking beyond the two dimensional barriers, there is more depth than might be seen at first glance and that there is a world behind these invasive trees, that the sky is full of stars. Previously, the viewer was distracted from the background, dazzled by the cover of the trees. ‘Nocturne’ is the final step in the series displayed in the Le Dame Gallery and the beginning of the series to come. In this painting, the viewer can see light behind the trunks, illuminating the background stolen from the trees by a nocturnal sky.

Miguel Mallol

Miguel Mallol Miguel Mallol is a curator and art critic based in London. After earning a degree in History of Art at the University of Valencia and at the Lancaster University, he worked at the Fondazione Querini Stampalia for the Conservation and Exhibition Departments. After this experience he worked at the Venice Biennale 2003 and in January 2004. The same year, he became director at Matteo Lo Greco’s Art Gallery, where he collaborated at the organisation of the exhibition “L’Aoristico by Matteo lo Greco” at Galleria Internazionale di Ca’ Pesaro in Venice.

In 2005, he moved back to Spain where he curated several private exhibitions. Among them, he worked together in his research with curator Carlos Pérez, at the exhibition “Dos siglos de industrialización en la Comunidad Valenciana” displayed at the MUVIM in Valencia, where he also started a collaboration as writer and art critic at El Mundo newspaper.

In 2007 he returned to Venice where he worked with artists such as Gaspare Manos for the solo exhibition “Urbis” at the Diocesan Museum of Venice; with Marco Tagliapietra at the installation “L’Isola dei Ciclopi” at Container Art and in 2008, at the Venice Architecture Biennale where he worked for the Spanish Pavilion. He collaborated with Mausi Viladomiu and the Fundació Ramon Llull for the Official Opening of the first Catalan Pavilion at the Visual Arts Venice Biennale 2009.

He moved in London in 2011, where he worked in collaboration with several galleries. He has curated independent projects and participated curating three rooms at Artrooms2015, International Contemporary Art Fair. Since December 2014, he is Exhibition Curator at Le Dame Art Gallery at Meliá White House Hotel and works as Independent Curator collaborating with private and public institutions in UK and abroad.

Rafal Zawistowski

Rafal Zawistowski was born in Warsaw, Poland and grew up in Canada where he graduated from the BA in Fine Art at Ontario College of Art in Toronto, Canada in 2006. As part of his education Zawistowski spent a year in Florence, Italy where he exhibited his artwork as well as studying the renaissance and this still currently plays a key part in his artwork.

Zawistowski graduated in 2011 and later that year he exhibited at New Contemporaries where Charles Saatchi bought several of his artworks.

In 2012 Zawistowski exhibited his first solo exhibition and Charles Saatchi bought the entire collection before the private view. Zawistowski continues to exhibit his artwork through group and solo He works and lives in London.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS Selected Solo Exhibitions 2013 Aura: Teodora Art Gallery, Toronto.

2012 The Unkindness: Graham Hunter Gallery, London.

Halo: New Painting: Canvas and Cream Gallery, London.

Selected Group Exhibitions 2015 Art Rooms 2015: Melia White House Hotel, London.

Undead Painters: Bond House Gallery, London.

2014 A Casual Phenomenology: Husk Gallery, London.

Heatherley’s School of Fine Art Staff Exhibition: Bankside Gallery, London.

2013 Come Dine With Me: BearSpace Gallery, London.

New Order: Saatchi Gallery, London.

Collections : Saatchi Collection Private Collections: London,Toronto, Warsaw, Caracas, Stamford, Connecticut.

Artworks

LUCENT Oil paint on canvas 70x80cm 2015 £3195

SILENT Oil paint on canvas 100x120cm 2015 £4495

NOCTURNE Oil paint on canvas 50x100cm 2015 £2695

RUNE Oil paint on canvas 30x40cm 2015 ÂŁ1995

FERAL Oil paint on canvas 50x60cm 2015 ÂŁ2495

RAMBLE Oil paint, pure pigments on canvas 50x60cm 2015 ÂŁ2495

BLEAR Oil paint on canvas.

20x20cm 2015 ÂŁ600

EVENTIDE Oil paint on canvas 20x20cm 2015 £600

Le Dame Art Gallery at Meliá White House Albany ST, Regent’s Park NW1 3UP London www.ledameartgallery.com E-mail: info@ledame.co.uk Tel. 0044(0)7947653530 Open Monday to Friday from 9am to 7pm Saturday and Sunday by appointment only