POSTER EXHIBITION

POSTER PAINTED POLAND 
The works from the POLSKA series by Ryszard Kaja

The Old Museum of Oxford, Oxford Town Hall

19th MAY, 6pm – 8pm – PRIVATE VIEW with the artist
20th – 21st MAY 2014, 10 am – 5pm 

Curators: Agnieszka Szara and Dominika Akuszewska (PLAY FULL)
In collaboration with:
Ewa Gluza (OPA), Krzysztof Marcinkiewicz (Galeria Plakatu), Vanessa Lea (Museum of Oxford)
Exhibition Arrangement: Ryszard Kaja

Ryszard Kaja, the Polish artist, painter, graphic designer, poster artist, stage designer and traveller, will display selected works from his new project POLSKA series at his first individual British exhibition at the Old Museum in Oxford.

The collection is a summary of artistic expressions from an unfinished cycle of work focusing on the process of creation since the year 2011 for the Polish Poster Gallery in Wroclaw. Whilst drawing upon the tradition of the tourist poster, the artist depicts Poland from a very personal point of view.

Among the collection of more than 50 posters you will find works representing big cities such as Łódź or Poznan, towns like Szamotuły and the village Warnowo, national parks, flora and fauna (from the Sudety mountain range), geography (the Baltic Sea, the Vistula river), and places incredibly important to Polish culture and folklore (Kurpie), tradition (Zaduszki) and history (Gliwice).

In his artistic practice Kaja plays with the traditional forms of poster art, whilst at the same time keeping his unique aesthetics, drawing upon Art Deco, Secession, Socialist Realism, Constructivism and the Polish School of Posters.

The exhibition and the project reflect the artist’s interest in the theme of the journey, a continuous wandering and searching. For Kaja the journey transcends borders as well as himself, and offers an exceptional perspective through which he scrutinizes the observed reality.

The collection of posters is a continuation of the previous threads present in Kaja’s works, in particular his ink paintings.

The artist plans to expand his work into a series entitled THE WORLD.

During the three day exhibition viewers will have an opportunity to see 30 unique posters selected by the artist and curators and meet with the artist at the private viewing.

Ryszard Kaja was born in 1962 in Poznań. He is a graduate of Poznań Academy of Fine Arts. He is a painter, graphic, stage and interior designer. He created more than 150 set designs for theatre, ballet, opera, television and film productions, and collaborated with many established directors and choreographers. His main passion besides the theatre, is poster art. In this area he continues his family tradition. His father Zbigniew Kaja was one of the most important representatives of the so called “Polish School of Poster”.

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The Old Museum of Oxford, Oxford Town Hall, St Aldate’s, Oxford, OX1 1BX

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