Andrzej Fogtt, ANGEL WHO WIRES LIFE, 1996

195.0 x 128.5 cm - oil, steel dust, magnet, canvas signed p.d.: 1996 R | Fogtt, next to a triangle sign with the letter E inscribed

signed on the back in yellow paint p.g.: ANGEL THAT WIRES LIFE | WÜRGENGEL | 1996 R | Aj Fogtt | [triangle sign with inscribed letter] E | Oil + F804, l.d. along the edge: Andrzej Fogtt



Image described and reproduced:

- Andrzej Fogtt, published by Andrzej Fogtt, Warsaw 2011, p. 117 (repr. under the title Angel, dimensions 185 x 132 cm).



In 1992, in a series of paintings bearing the common title Energetic Space, Andrzej Fogtt conducted a bold formal experiment. The painting material became iron filings mixed with paint, on which the artist acted with a magnet, spreading them on the canvas and incorporating such fragments into classically painted compositions. These explorations stemmed from his fascination with the interaction between matter and real energy interacting with that matter.

♣ to the auctioned price, in addition to other costs, will be added a fee resulting from the right of the artist and his heirs to receive remuneration in accordance with the Act of February 4, 1994 - on Copyright and Related Rights (droit de suite)



Andrzej Fogtt (Poznań 1950, lives in Warsaw) - studied at the State Higher School of Fine Arts in Poznań under Prof. Zdzisław Kępiński and Magdalena Abakanowicz. He received his diploma in 1974 and participated in exhibitions since the mid-1970s. In 1984 he won the Grand Prix at the Festival of Polish Contemporary Painting in Szczecin. That year he represented Poland at the XLI Venice Biennale. There he showed a work co-signed with Bożenna Biskupska - the environment "Mystery of Time," composed of his 14 monumental painting compositions and 30 equally powerful sculptures by Biskupska. They were set in a composition with a scenographic character, intended to allude to the sacred on the one hand (but without elements of Christian iconography), on the other - to evoke the mythical and heroic history of battles and sacrifices. The style of Fogtt's paintings at this peak of his career was based on the contrast of centrally located, hieratic silhouettes and the fine, shimmering "scales" of brushstrokes that build them up. A similar style persists in the artist's later works. In a series of works entitled. "Energy Space" he used paint mixed with metal filings, which he subjected to the forces of a magnetic field during the painting process. This resulted in multiple effects, mainly textural. Since 1989, the artist has been working on a project for the Tower of European Unity in Warsaw - a building intended to play as much a symbolic role as to be a cultural center with exhibition halls, concert halls, studios, etc. In 1992 a model of it was created. After 2000, the artist paints bright, colorful, "classical" nudes and scenes in the landscape, with shapes distinguished by color or outline, obscured by a kind of raster of small irregular spots and streaks.