Signed in pencil p.d.: TOMASZ TATARCZYK 2005
Since the late 1990s, Tomasz Tatarczyk had been working on a broader series of canvases and drawings, in which the main character was a dog with a black, short coat - Gypsy. The artist recalled: As [Gypsy] was reaching the end of his days, I necessarily wanted to capture him on canvas. And so it began. My companion for walks along the Vistula in Mięćmierz ended his life. The paintings continued to be created, as if triggered by the late dog. These paintings are the most personal works I have painted so far. The beloved four-legged dog - always depicted on an abstract white background of shimmering water - wades through the shallows, swimming, preparing to jump, looking out for its owner, frozen in anticipation. Based on the magnetizing contrast of black and white, the animal's "portraits" are completely devoid of unnecessary details that could distract from the essence of the dog's nature. For painting, as the artist said in an interview, must be about the essence.
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Tomasz Tatarczyk (Katowice 1947 - Warsaw 2010) studied from 1966-1972 at the Warsaw University of Technology, then from 1976-1981 at the Faculty of Painting of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, where he received his diploma under Prof. Jan Tarasin. From 1980 to 1986 he worked as a teacher at his alma mater. During martial law, he joined the independent art movement, exhibiting in churches. Since the mid-1980s, he was associated with the Foksal Gallery in Warsaw, had several solo exhibitions there, and participated in group presentations organized by the gallery, such as "4 Foksal Gallery Artists", Richard Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh 1985, "Dialogue", Moderna Museet, Stockholm 1985 and others. In the years 1987-1988 he was a scholarship recipient of the Kosciuszko Foundation. In 1990 he won one of the awards at the 15th Festival of Polish Contemporary Painting in Szczecin. Tatarczyk's paintings are focused, economical, based on single, clearly exposed motifs and a narrow range of colors.