Henryk Waniek (b. 1942, Auschwitz), "Nostalgia," 1978

Origin:
private collection, Poland
DESA Unicum, 2012
private collection, Poland

Biography
In 1964 he began his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow, at the Faculty of Graphic Arts in Katowice. In 1965-66, he was a visiting scholar at the Department of Art History at the Jagiellonian University. During this period, he was also involved in the activities of the DKF "Kino-oko", founded by students of the Academy of Fine Arts, of which he became president in 1966. During his studies, he became involved with painters with a fantasy-magic orientation, Barbara and Henryk "Fantazos" Ziembicki. He also joined the Oneiron group formed in 1967, also known as the League of Spiritual Insights[1]. Members of this group turned to magic and alchemy, as well as Far Eastern philosophy and religion. The artists attempted to penetrate and artistically exploit so-called altered states of consciousness. In the 1960s and 1970s, they held regular sessions, made films, and published (in two pieces) a periodical circulating through homes and painters' studios entitled New Unpretentious Scripture in Pictures. It had the form of a folder, into which H. Waniek and A. Urbanowicz put manuscripts, typescripts, drawings, photographs, recordings. In 1970, he received a diploma in poster design from Prof. Tadeusz Grabowski and art graphics from Prof. Andrzej Pietsch. After graduation, he briefly worked at the State High School of Fine Arts in Katowice as an art teacher and at the Art Department of the Cieszyn branch of the Silesian University (1976-78) as a lecturer. In 1976 he was awarded a scholarship by the Italian Government to stay in Florence, while in 1976-77 he received a scholarship from The Kosciuszko Foundation in New York. He is a surrealist painter. He realizes his visions in traditional oil painting, and is also involved in drawing, publishing graphics and posters, and occasionally stage design for plays. The Silesian artist's works have been exhibited in more than 100 group exhibitions; he is also the author of more than 100 solo exhibitions.