Bartosz Czarnecki, Diego Velazquez - Portrait of Philip IV at Fraga, 2022

oil, canvas, 70 x 60 cm signed, dated and described on the reverse: B. CZARNECKI 2022/Diego Velazquez/-Portrait of Philip IV at Fraga/oil canvas/60 x 70 cm

exhibited: Crisis of the Face, Wroclaw City Gallery, 2022
reproduced: Crisis of the Face, catalog of the group exhibition at the City Gallery in Wroclaw, 2022, p. 69.


Reproductions series:
The paintings of the old masters reproduced in albums were not the inspiration. They are important to me in terms of history, ideas, creative process and painting technique, but they were not the immediate reason for taking up the subject of reproductions.
What I am particularly interested in are photographs, the process by which they are created along with the errors that can occur during this process. Here I am referring to developed photographs, and those that are digitally recorded. Many factors influence how a given photo will look. The conditions under which it was taken, how it was developed, and in the case of digital recording, the way it is displayed and printed is important. A photograph is a carrier of information, and even though it represents a photographed object, it exists independently as a new quality. It is important for me to realize that when I look at a photograph, such as a painting reproduced in an album, I am not looking at that painting. I am looking at a completely new creation in which everything is different from the original. From the conditions under which the photo was taken, the light with its temperature, the camera parameters, to the way it was printed, the type of paper, to the change in scale of the reproduced work. What is interesting to me is this transformation, along with its mechanical aspects, errors and differences. In the case of reproductions, this is particularly noticeable because often, when I browse, for example, the Internet in search of a particular work, I wonder which of the possible versions most faithfully reproduces the original work. Often there are several copies of one reproduction, warmer, cooler, with different contrast, saturation, sharpness or framing. For me, it's a kind of picture game where it's hard to tell which is closer to reality. All these values standing between a real object and a photo of that object are the problem that interests me. The boundary between the image of a thing, from the thing itself. The phenomenon of the culture of the image, the "pictoriality" of the world, which does not refer us to any entity other than itself. A transformation that we are often unaware of and do not pay attention to.
Bartosz Czarnecki


Bartosz Czarnecki (1988, Elbląg) graduated from the Faculty of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow in 2013 under the direction of Professor Grzegorz Bednarski. He has received scholarships from many institutions including the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (2012, 2016, 2022), the Mayor of the City of Cracow (2015), Sapere Auso (2012), the scholarship of the Rector of the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow (2012), the Anna Maria Siemieńska Grazella scholarship in painting (2011), and the Janina Kraupe-Świderska scholarship (2011). Bartosz Czarnecki is also a finalist in a number of competitions including: regulatory distinction, distinction of the art magazine Format, 44th Bielska Jesień Biennale, 2019; main prize in the national painting competition Nowy obraz/Nowe spojrzenie, Gallery of the University of Arts in Poznań, 2015; 2nd prize in the national painting competition named after Leon Wyczółkowski, 2015. Leon Wyczółkowski, District Museum, Bydgoszcz, 2014; Grand Prix of the Franciszka Eibisch Foundation, Warsaw, 2013; honorable mention in the national painting competition Promotions 2013, Legnica; audience award and honorable mention in the national painting review Fresh Blood, Socato Gallery, Wrocław, 2013; award in the Tadeusz Brzozowski National Painting Competition, 2018.

2023: Transitional States, exhibition from the Art Collection of the Bielska BWA Gallery.
2022: Face Crisis, Wroclaw City Gallery
2019: 44th Bielska Jesień Biennale, Bielska Galeria BWA
2019: Palace of Art / Young Polish Painting, National Museum in Gdańsk
2018: SIGN, IAGA Gallery, Romania
2017: Triangle, Polish Institute in Düsseldorf, Germany
2016: CUBE, Polish-German Art Biennale, Krakow, Poland.
2016: Father a glazier, mother a glass - Henryk Gallery, Cracow, Poland.
2016: Work in progress - Hotel Cracovia, together with Michał Sroka, exhibition organized as part of Cracow Gallery Weekend | KRAKERS
2015: Bartosz Czarnecki - Painting, STALOWA Gallery, Warsaw, 2015: Compass of Young Art, Minus -1 Gallery of the Polish Olympic Committee, Warsaw, 2015: 3 x YOUNG POLISH PAINTERS, La Xina A.R.T. Gallery Barcelona 2015: Fading Memory - On the Fading of Memories, Klosterbrauerei Weissenohe, Germany.
2015: New Image - New Look, University of Arts Gallery, Poznan, Poland
2014: REST-ART-WORK, municipal power plant hall at 19 Wawrzyniec St., Krakow
2013: PMS Fresh Blood, Socato Gallery, Wroclaw,
2013: Admission forbidden, Quelle premises, Nuremberg
2013: Promotions, Legnica Gallery, Legnica
2012: New image - New look, BWA Gallery, Gorzow Wielkopolski.
2012: Hestia's Artistic Journey, ERGO Arena Stadium Gallery, Sopot.
2012: AIAS international drawing exhibition, Studio BWA, Wrocław, Poland
2011: Foire Internationale du dessin, Cité internationale des arts, Paris, 2011.
Participation in the international art fair Art Vilnius' 15, Vilnius
Participation in the international art fair Art Vilnius' 14, Vilnius
Finalist of FID international drawing competition, Paris, 2014
Participation in FID international art fair, Paris, 2011