Krzysztof Zarębski
(born 1939)
An artist whose work encompasses inter media and multimedia art, performances, film making, refined aesthetic photography, assemblages, objects and installations, painting, as well as creating set design. He studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw during the years 1962-1968. He is one of the pioneers and most prominent representatives of performance art in Poland, which he’s actively been engaged in since 1971. One of the most characteristic features of his art is to take, in a very brave manner, issues of the body, eroticism and sexuality, becoming more and more provocative with time, combined with performances and an aesthetic celebration of sublimated perversion and also lust, during which he utilizes fascinating, created by himself, requisite-fetishes of different kinds. From the beginning, music has always been a very important element of his performance, which appears in them in a variety of forms: from recordings on various media to music that is realized in collaboration with musicians and composers. In his performances the artist often appears with models, actresses, dancers and actors; sometimes in duet with his wife or his daughter.
(Excerpt from “Medea in a Bath” press release, Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, 2013)
Selected solo exhibitions:
2013
– Krzysztof Zarębski: Photographs 1972 – 2012, CREON Gallery, New York City
2012
– Priap’s Garden – installation, video, art objects, CREON Gallery, New York City
2010
– Alicja Zebrowska and Krzysztof Zarębski, Manhattan Gallery, Łódź, Poland
– Filogeneza, ODA Gallery, Piotrków Trybunalski, Poland
2009
– VOLTA NY (Art NEW media Gallery), New York City
– Krzysztof Zarębski `70. Erotematy Słabnącego Erosa, Art NEW media Gallery, Warsaw
– Lustishis Flower, Galeria Bielska BWA, Bielsko-Biala, Poland
– One night show, foyer of Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, New York City
2008
– Dedykacje, XX1 Gallery, Warsaw
2004
– Krzysztof Zarębski. New Works, Roshkowska Gallery, Windham, USA
2003
– Krzysztof Zarębski’s Films and Videos 1972 – 2003, Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw
1999
– Water Nymphs, Pardo Sheehan Gallery, New York City
1996
– Fingernails on Parade – Call Girls, Zachęta National Art Gallery, Warsaw
1992
– Documantation 1972-1992 and art installation, Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw
– Krzysztof Zarębski. Installation (With Sound and Leeches), Labirynt 2 Gallery, Lublin, Poland
1990
– PAAS Gallery, New York City
1989
– One twenty eight Gallery, New York City
1988
– NOW Gallery, New York City
– Tobe Art Gallery, New York City
1985
– Freddie The Dreamer Gallery, New York City
– Zones with Bridges (Frozen Erection), (with Krystyna Jachniewicz), NADA Gallery, New York City
1980
– Działania, Gallery “M”, Warsaw
1979
– Galeria Krytyków, Warsaw
1978
– Labirynt Gallery, Lublin, Poland
1977
– Warm Air, Repassage Gallery, Warsaw
1976
– Labirynt Gallery, Lublin, Poland
1975
– Vanersborg Museum, Vanersborg, Sweden
1974
– Dialogue, Repassage Gallery, Warsaw
– Cosmetics Corner, Remont Gallery, Warsaw
– Zones of Contact, Remont Gallery, Warsaw
– The Freezing of Sound, Bureau de la Poesie (Biuro Poezji), Warsaw
1973
– Galeria Współczesna (MPiK Club), Warsaw
– Labirynt Gallery, Lublin, Poland
– Osmosis, Remont Gallery, Warsaw
1972
– Paintings and documentation 1970-1971, BWA Gallery, Lublin, Poland
– Intuitive Cooperation, Sigma Club, Warsaw
1969
– Salon Debiutów Gallery, Warsaw
Selected group exhibitions:
2017
– Dark Places Behind the Door, Monopol Gallery, Warsaw
2015
– The Wild West. A history of Wrocław’s Avant-garde, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw
2014
– Report on the Construction of a Spaceship Module, New Museum, New York City
2012
– Disturbed Images. CUT in art, Museum of Imagination, Hudson, New York
– Disturbed Images. CUT in art part 2, Museum of Imagination, Hudson, New York
– Mois de la Photo a Paris, Galerie Roi Dore, Paris, France
– Where is PERMAFO?, Wroclaw Contemporary Museum, Wroclaw, Poland
2010
– Post Gogol. The Silent Absence of the Body, SLAG Gallery, New York City
– Works from the BWA – Lublin Collection, Towarzystwo Zachęty Sztuki Współczesnej, Lviv, Ukraine
2009
– International Collection of Contemporary Art 5, Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw
– Shit Corner: No Excuses. Small Works Summer Exhibitions. A Year in Review, 15 Corson Gallery, New York
2008
– 1,2,3…Avant-Gardes.Film/Artbetween Experiment and Archive, Tate Modern, London
– KRAJ: sztuka artystów z polskim rodowodem, Galeria Sztuki Współczesnej, Opole, Poland
– Screening I: Quilt of Projections, 15 Corson Gallery, New York
– Screening II: Screen Test Ad Infinitum, 15 Corson Gallery, New York
– Supernovas: A Modern Survey, The Kymara Gallery, Biddeford, Maine, USA
2007
– Aleksander Jachniewicz Presents: Krystyna Jachniewicz and Krzysztof Zarębski 1981-2007, Shandelee Studio, Shandelee, USA
– Dowcip i Władza Sadzenia. Asteizm w Polsce, Galeria Program, Warsaw
– Poza, Real Art Ways, Hartford, USA
– Redtape Magazine, 25th Anniversary, Tribes Gallery, New York City
– On Ice, Lafayette College Art Gallery, Easton, PA, USA
– Fresh View, Art for Healing, New York City
2006
– Plastic Fantastic, The Shorev Institute of Contemporary Art, Long Branch, USA
– Hot Summer of Philocracy, Silent Space Gallery, Kingston, USA
– 1,2,3… Awangarda, Eksperyment, Film, Sztuka, Archiwum, Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw
2005
– Botany 5000, The Lab Gallery, New York City
2004
– Malewicz w Polsce, Arsenal Gallery, Białystok, Poland
– BWA Collection, Labirynt 2 Gallery, Lublin, Poland
2003
– Comportement Energetique, Galerie Satellite, Paris, France
– Inside the Cooler, Cooler Gallery, White River Junction, USA
– Transfusion, Fusion Arts Museum, New York City
2002
– Autonomous Conceptual Movement in Poland, BWA Gallery, Lublin, Poland
2001
– Express Art from New York, Lattuada Gallery, Milan, Italy
1999
– Rewind/Fast Forward, Onetwentyeight Gallery, New York City
– Universal Comunicativity, Onetwentyeight Gallery, New York City
1998
– Cyber Recycling, The Piano Store, New York City
– One on One Part 2, Max Fish, New York City
– Sourpuss, Abraham Lubelski Gallery, New York City
– Text no Text. Mallarme’s Effect on Artists, Tompkins College Center Gallery, Allentown, USA
1997
– Heat, Pardo Wiev Gallery, New York City
– Condensation, Pardo View Gallery, New York City
– Focus on Poland, Anderson Center For The Arts, Binhampton, USA
– Generations, Zachęta National Art Gallery, Warsaw
1996
– Inaugural Exhibition, Pardo Wiev Gallery, New York City
– Sculptor’s Drawings, Pardo View Gallery, New York City
1995
– Spring Overview, Onetwentyeight Gallery, New York City
– The Deviant Playground, CSV Cultural Center, New York City
– VI International Triennial of Drawing. Art as Thought, Art as Energy, Wroclaw, Poland
1994
– Open House, Space 2B, New York City
– 20-lecie programu artystycznego Galerii Labirynt, BWA Gallery, Lublin, Poland
1993
– Blasted Bodies/Wasted Wonder, Gas Station, New York City
– Redtape Magazine #7, USA club, New York City
– Repassage, Repassage 2, Sigma, Zachęta National Art Gallery, Warsaw
– Top 5.5 Sculpteurs de Pologne, Marseille, France
1992
– Beauty, Michael Kazan’s Townhouse of Beauty, New York City
– Angel Orensanz Foundation, New York City
1991
– Jesteśmy, Zachęta National Art Gallery, Warsaw
– New York Diary: Almost 25 Different Things, PS1 Museum, New York
– Coniunctio 2000.Art as Alchemyinto the 21st Century, Cb’s 313 Gallery, New York City
– Flying Possibility, Morina Gallery, New York City
– Contemporary American Baroque, Cb’s 313 Gallery, New York City
– Sztuka Performance, Galeria Stara, BWA, Lublin, Poland
1990
– Museum Modern Art, Huenfeld, Germany
– 3 artists show, Studio Gallery Bedford Hills, New York
1989
– The Rivington School, AFR Fine Arts, Washington DC, USA
– Open House Gallery, New York City
1988
– OKI Gallery, Innsbruck
– Works from suitcases, Dziekanka Gallery, Warsaw
– Rivington School Show, Onetwentyeight Gallery, New York City
1987
– The Late Show Disciples, NO SE NO Gallery, New York City
-The Second Coming, Dramatis Personae Gallery, New York City
– Rivington School Show, Onetwentyeight Gallery, New York City
– Eye of a Storm, Tamura Gallery, Tokio; Art Space lesBois, Osaka
– Artist Space, Nishinomiya, Japan
– International Contemporary Art Exhibition, City Museum, Osaka
1986
– Razorsharp, Nolo Contendere Gallery, New York City
– Cracked Mirror 2, Nico Smith Gallery, New York City
1985
– Heroine Show, The World, New York City
– Variety, `A` Gallery, New York City
– Sculpture Inside-Out, NO SE NO Gallery, New York City
– The Rivington School NO SE NO Gallery, New York City
– Mini Max, NOW Gallery, New York City
– Eastern Europeans in New York, El Bohio Gallery, New York City
– Apartment Art, Sixth Sense Gallery, New York City
1984
– Musical Instruments by Artists, Public Image Gallery, New York City
– Conspiracies, Limbo, New York City
– East Village Artists Go West, Castways Gallery, New York City
– Friends, NO SE NO Gallery, New York City
– Nurt intelektualny w sztuce polskiej po Drugiej Wojnie Światowej, BWA Gallery, Lublin, Poland
1981
– IX Spotkania Krakowskie, Pawilon Wystawowy BWA, Kraków, Poland
– II International Triennial of Drawing, Wroclaw, Poland
1980
– MOHAMMED, Centro di Comunicazione Ristretta, Genova, Italy
1979
– Words and Works, De Appel Gallery, Amsterdam
– Erotyka, ZPAP Gallery, Warsaw
1978
– Performance and body, Labirynt Gallery, Lublin, Poland
– Performance Art festival, Beursschouwburg, Brussels
– Hommage to Andrzej Matynia, Galeria Krytyków, Warsaw
1977
– Body as a Visual Language, Maki Gallery, Tokyo
– Projects/Performanceses – Czechoslovakia/Poland, Hallwalls Gallery, Buffalo, USA
1975
– 7 Artists from Poland, Konsthall, Malmö, Sweden
1974
– International Graphic Biennial, Kraków, Poland
– Nowa Generacja, Muzeum Narodowe, Wrocław, Poland
1973
– VIII Biennale Młodych, Paris
– Biennale Form Przestrzennych, Elbląg, Poland
1972
– Polish Contemporary Art, Helsinki
– Plakat Autorski, Galeria Współczesna (MPiK Club), Warsaw
1971
– Portret Człowieka, Zachęta National Art Gallery, Warsaw
– Porównania IV. XXIV Festiwal Sztuk Plastycznych, BWA Gallery, Sopot, Poland
– Art – demography 2000, Arsenal Gallery, Poznan, Poland
– Wystawa Młodych, Galeria Współczesna (MPiK Club), Warsaw
– Złote Grono, BWA Gallery, Zielona Góra, Poland
1970
– Informacja. Wyobraźnia. Działanie, Galeria Współczesna, Warsaw
– III Festiwal Sztuk Pięknych, Zachęta National Art Gallery, Warsaw
– V Festiwal Polskiego Malarstwa Współczesnego, Szczecin, Poland
1969
– Debiut Absolwentów, Stara Kordegarda Gallery, Warsaw