No Polish Series (yet) - Cezary Bodzianowski

No, although I have written regularly about berets in and from Poland, I can't see enough material to justify a "Polish Series", despite the Polish International Brigaders, the Sterkowski Berets and Jewish beret factory workers and Cezary Bodzianowski, who lives and works in Łódź, is Poland's most popular artist, according to the weekly magazine Raster's "Top Ten" list. In the international context, he has exhibited in such group shows as Ausgeträumt..., at the Secession in Vienna (2001), September Horse at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin (2002), Geschichte at the Salzburger Kunstverein (2002), and at the first Tirane Biennial (2001), among other places. He is also a close collaborator with the Foksal Gallery Foundation in Warsaw.

In his performance interventions, Cezary Bodzianowski plays with the absurdity of the mundane. It is impossible to define or predict his actions in advance. Everyday situations are transformed into a bizarre and often quite humorous form of communication with the public. 


Other than conscious collaborators and friends, or passers-by who accidentally get involved, rarely does anyone else participate in these direct and spontaneous performances. The documentation left on videotape or a photograph, which remains as an ephemeral record and exhibition material, speaks of the elusiveness and evanescence of his actions -
all that remains in our consciousness is the characteristic figure of the artist's persona. Fully aware of the charming allure of his own outwardly modest image, Cezary Bodzianowski enriches and sharpens the grayness of our everyday life.