školská 28

Grzegorz Drozd (b. 1970) graduated at Academy of Fine Art in Warsaw in painting (professor Jaroslaw Modzelewski) and sculpture (professor Grzegorz Kowalski). He has been exhibiting since 2003 in Poland, Sweden, Scotland, Great Britain and Russia. In 2007 he presented his project Lack in Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle. He lives and works in Warsaw.

Drozd's project for Open Studios "Encyklopedia" is a collection of paint-arts, inspired by the illustrated encyclopedia for children published in 1976. From today's perspective is this book proof for multi-layer social deformation based on the ideology of collective happiness, welfare and general hope. His goal is on one hand to create a historical commentary, on the other hand, to make a step towards analyzing and criticizing the issues related with functioning of social mechanisms of a contemporary democracy. What is the relations between an individual and collectivity in the past, as well as at present, and to emphasize the threats and dilemmas of existence.
Compositions created with inspiration by stylistics as well as by themes of photography used in the encyclopedia, produce a kind of a cross-section through the domains of social activity.

This residency is supported by the Visegrad International Fund, a program of the Visegrad Artist Residency Programme (VARP).