oil on canvas, dimensions: 30 x 80 cm, signed, 2018
Janusz Szpyt was born in Lubaczow, where he lives and works.
He began his studies in the graphics department of the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice, in the studio of Prof. Jerzy Duda - Gracz and continued in the painting department of the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow in the studio of Prof. Włodzimierz Buczek.
In 1983, he co-founded, with Piotr Naliwajko and Leszek Żegalski, the Group of Three, also known as the "Excessive Tercet". "The All-New Wild Dadaists," as they perversely called themselves, issued a manifesto in their magazine Bengal, in which they called for truth in art related to the quality of form, color and workshop, opposing the widely prevailing painting and media trash. "We want painting to express the spirit of our times in the most individual way possible, to be a humanistic protest of thinking people against all manifestations of evil, to be a continuation of the traditions of our societies. We want to express this with painting based on the unity of composition, drawing and color, in a word, PERFECT PAINTING with perfect knowledge of the workshop [...]" Numerous exhibitions organized at home and abroad by the Group were accompanied by artistic ferment reflected in the press radio and television.
Janusz Szpyt's work, which falls within the convention of realist painting, can be divided into several thematic strands. His shocking painting accounts of insane asylums, psychiatric hospitals show people tired to the extreme of carrying their lives. The artist dramatically defends what constitutes the essence of humanity the personal dignity of man "Christmas in a Mental Institution" (canvas, 290 x 340 cm, 1988). The sacred theme actualizes the truths of faith by showing what is beyond time and universal in human reality - a series of contemporary crucifixions "Crucifixion" (canvas, 210 x 260cm, 1989), "Sacrifice of Isaac" (oil on canvas, 110 x 90cm, 1989).
In his surrealist paintings, man continues to be the main motif. The Orwellian atmosphere of these works shows the oppression and enslavement of individuality by the totalitarian system, and are an emanation of the reality of martial law - the series of flying stoves "Brother-in-law" (oil on board, 120 x 100cm, 1988). The consequence of these painting and life experiences was an attempt to take an ironic look at the tragicomic existence of man and his problems. This kind of painting journalism is full of distance and self-criticism to what seems important to us "Sisyphus" (oil on canvas, 120 x 100cm, 1996), "Road to the Union" (oil on canvas, 120 x 100cm, 2004).
As if out of a need for balance, the artist simultaneously seeks classically conceived beauty in family portraits - "Childhood" (oil on board, 55 x 46cm, 2008), landscapes - "Roztocze" (oil on canvas, 30 x 40cm, 2009), nudes - "Reading" (oil on canvas, 69 x 86cm, 2011) and flowers - "Lilacs" (oil on canvas, 70 x 50cm, 2010).
An important part of his work is monumental sacred painting - polychrome in St. Stanislaus Church in Lubaczow.
Janusz Szpyt perfectly reflects reality through art, creates an excellent documentation of human fate. The artist has a thorough mastery of the workshop, he freely uses form and color, masterfully operates light, guides the brush with virtuosity.
The artist exhibits his works at collective and individual art presentations at home and abroad.
Janusz Szpyt is a painter who paints studied figures, not crossing certain boundaries, so as not to appear against himself. His art ranges from fictional visions ( flying cars, stoves as well as people ) through landscapes and reaches Orwellian themes with paintings on politics and social events. He devotes much of his work to nudes, studying the psychological portrait of the people he paints, and makes arrangements for sacred interiors.
Nudes are depicted not so much in a literal sense, but in a metaphorical sense, demonstrating excellent painting technique. The artist shows not only physical nudity, of his models, but also their psyche, thus articulating the truth longed for by philosophers.
Realistic and figurative subjects, in addition to the psychological layer of this painting, are the pretext for solving many purely formal problems, that is, color, composition, etc.
His passion is sculpting.
Since 2007, he has worked as a lecturer at the European Academy of Arts in Warsaw.
Janusz Szpyt 's paintings are in many private and museum collections at home and abroad.
"... The art of Janusz Szpyt is important now and will continue to be in the future, because it is a link in the chain that forms the world's heritage of painting from prehistory to our time, and is not a gimmick to appear, but is the persistence of Art in time and in the imagination of those for whom all the greats have created for centuries, among them and Zurbaran, and Goya, and La Tour, and Stanley Spencer, that is, all those for whom the essence of creativity was the universal and not subject to the verification of time canons of art, and which we also find in the paintings of Janusz Szpyt. Let's look at this art carefully, also because it is a rare example of a tribute paid by the Artist to universally and unprejudiced Humanity."
Wieslaw Ochman
