Jakub CIĘŻKI (b. 1979), Series of three paintings - XYZ, 2014

1. X : acrylic enamel, acrylic, oil, canvas; 50 x 50 cm; on the back, author's inscription: JAKUB CIĘŻKI / "XYZ - X" / EMALIA AKRYL./AKRYL/OLEJ / 2014;
2. Y : acrylic enamel, acrylic, oil, canvas; 50 x 50 cm; on the back, author's inscription: JAKUB CIĘŻKI / "XYZ - Y" / EMALIA AKRYL./AKRYL/OLEJ / 2014;
3. Z : acrylic enamel, acrylic, oil, canvas; 50 x 50 cm; on the back, author's inscription: JAKUB CIĘŻKI / "XYZ - Z" / EMALIA AKRYL./AKRYL/OLEJ / 2014.

Born in 1979. In 2003 received a diploma with honors in the painting studio of Professor Jacek Wojciechowski at the Faculty of Arts of the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University. Finalist of the Art&Business editors' competition for the 2004 Picture of the Year. Grand Prix winner in the Franciszka Eibisch Foundation competitions in Warsaw (2004) and at the 40th Bielska Jesień Painting Biennale in 2011. Three times submitted for the Polityka's Passport (2011, 2012, 2014). Recipient of the 2013 Young Poland Ministerial Scholarship Program, he received an art scholarship from the Mayor of the City of Lublin for 2015 and 2016.
Author of solo exhibitions, including: Carnal Punishments (2015) and Haven't We Met Before? (2012) at Propaganda Gallery in Warsaw (2012), I Love You But I've chosen darkness at BWA Gallery in Gorzow Wielkopolski (2015), Blackout at BWA Bielska Gallery in Bielsko-Biala (2013), To Read Between the Lines at the gallery of the Lublin Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts (2009).

"These constructions are both fascinating and disturbing. On the one hand, they are intact, stable, strained only in some places, as is usually the case with the roof trusses of old structures (...). Hence comes a certain intensification of feelings and associations when one stands eye to eye with the paintings. Structural-jewelry iconography comes from the same family of objects that includes construction scaffolding, which intrigued the artist earlier. Those, too, were captured in a neutral setting, making the foreground dominant, while the ascetic motif, which has no competition and is rendered with great precision, was striking in its clarity. Ciężki is not a realist at heart, but he is certainly a realist of detail (he even splashed the metal scaffolding rods with construction paint to convey the truth of the motif)."
(source: hype.pl, opencity.pl)