Cezary Bodzianowski (b.1968)
Situational artist, author of subtle and discreet performances and actions, conducted mainly in the public space; performer of the quotidian. Typically, he stages short, absurd-laden narratives and scenes that he is the protagonist of. He calls his artistic undertakings “the individualised theatre of occurrences”. His creative output is a nod to the dada tradition and, as such, harks back to the discourse of the grotesque, redolent of among others Łódź Kaliska. However, Bodzianowski does not, as a rule, rely on social provocation; neither does he overtly aim to employ shock tactics. Instead, his concerns include normative behaviours, such as tolerance, openness, spontaneity, which he puts to test during his artistic interventions.
Bodzianowski studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (1988-90) and at the Royal Academy of Arts in Antwerp (1990-94). In 2001, in recognition of his “artistic actions that reveal the poetic within the prosaic”, he was awarded the Pegasus Prize (Nagroda Pegaza). In 2003 he was shortlisted for the Spojrzenia Prize, awarded by Deutsche Bank’s Culture Foundation (Nagroda Fundacji Kultury Deutshe Banku). In 2004 he received Polityka’s Passport (Paszport Polityki) – a prestigious annual award presented under the auspices of Polityka, a popular Polish weekly magazine. The jurors praised Bodzianowski’s “unbridled imagination and determination” and lauded his “optimistic and impartial art that shakes us all out of the day-to-day routine”.
Bodzianowski, who so far has performed and recorded more than one thousand of his artistic occurrences, is renowned for his trademark image: an old-fashioned mustachioed man, frequently wearing a macintosh and holding a black briefcase. Regularly, he works with Monika Chojnicka, his wife, who chronicles and registers her husband’s actions.
His subtle if semantics-shifting, ever-new games with the surrounding world certify Bodzianowski as an unpredictable, intriguing and, foremost, eccentric artist.
Bodzianowski lives and works in Łódź. He is associated with the Foksal Gallery (Warsaw).
Select Solo Performances:
2009 “Sababa”, Centre for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
2008 “NU Mushrooms”, Parking, Łódź, Poland
2007 “Zero”, Milan, Italy
2007 “Numbers and Dates”, Dusseldorf, Germany
2007 “It Will All Be Green in the Summer”, Museum of Art, Łódź, Poland
2006 “Charlestone”, Broadway 1602, New Yrok, USA
2006 “Mai Amor”, Blu Centre, Bolzano, Italy
2005 “Ein und Aus/In and Out”, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, Germany
2005 “Zum…Wieder Gedachtnis”, Neue Kunst Halle, St. Gallen, Switzerland
2004 “Green-Eyed”, Centre For Contemporary Polish Sculpture, Oronsko, Poland
2004 “Unik/Duck”, MPK, Łódź, Poland
2003 “A Fake Crowd”, Łódź, Poland
2003 “Four Times Paris”, Pompidou Centre, Paris, France
2003 “I Have Always Stood in the Shadow of the Cinema”, “Hidden In Daylight”, 4th Era New Horizons – Film Festival, Cieszyn, Poland
2003 “The Flying Dutchman”, Górnośląskie Centrum Kultury, Katowice, Poland
2003 “Die Blaue Raiter macht die Brucke”, Kunstverein, Cologne, Germany
2003 “Silent Days”, Centre For Contemporary Polish Sculpture, Oronsko, Poland
2003 “Urbi et Orbi”, Zakręt Gallery, Warsaw, Poland
2002 “Fishing Project”, Kunstlerhausbetanien, Berlin, Germany
2002 “The Evening of Three Tenors”, BWA, Zielona Góra, Poland
2002 “A Bowler Hat”, Arsenał Gallery, Białystok, Poland
2002 “Lonely Hearts Ball”, Galeria Bielska, Bielsko-Biała, Poland
2001 “Sympathetic Ink”, Museum of Art, Lodz, Poland
2001 “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man”, Bielska Gallery, Bielsko-Biała, Poland
1997 “Neither on Land, Nor in Air, Nor in Water”, Kronika Gallery, Bytom, Poland
1996 “Manus Nigra”, Arsenał Gallery, Białystok, Poland