Maciej Szańkowski

Studies: Faculty of Sculpture, Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw, in the studio of Prof Ludwika Nitschowa, then the studio of Prof Jerzy Jarnuszkiewicz, 1957-1963. Pedagogue at the State Higher College of Plastic Arts in Poznan, 1982-2003, and at the Faculty of Fine Arts, The Nicolas Copernicus University in Torun, 1996-2008. Stipend of the French Government, 1971-1972. ‘I give shape to the air’ – these words of Maciej Szańkowski define the essence of his work. In the 70s, he made his first Self- Assembled Works, openwork objects which are the artist’s signature pieces. The flat, geometric forms in white, black, green, ochre, red, connected by hinges, enable their unfolding and folding. The artist tries to materialize the problem of space through ‘spatial drawings’ made of stoneware, works of paper, and spatial objects made of frames. Interpenetration, movement, and changeability inherent in these objects are the author’s attempt to understand the essence of space.