“Universal dilettante”
Exhibition of art works by Andrzej Strumillo presented in Lviv
Patriarch of Polish art, 86-year-old Andrzej Strumillo, whose art works have been exhibited for the first time in Lviv, works in various dimensions, including painting, graphic art, photography, book design, and stage design. He is also the author of two collections of poetry and several books on natural science and cultural studies. Strumillo is also famous for assembling a collection of art and material culture of the Far and Middle East for the Ethnographic Museum in Krakow and the Museum of Asia and the Pacific in Warsaw. For this he received the award from the Polish Minister of Culture and Art, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Mayor of Warsaw.
Professor Strumillo brought many of his drawings, paintings, installations, and photographs to Lviv. He speaks a lot about the places he’s been to and things he has seen: “For example, I have been to India for 11 times, walked across the entire Nepal, climbed Kangchenjunga [the third tallest mountain in the world with the height of 8,586 meters above sea level. – Author], was on top of Mount Everest, which is the highest peak in the world – about 8,848 meters… I am always moving forward and forward only, I am a very stubborn person… As for diversity in my work, I am a universal dilettante.”
COMMENTARY
Roman YATSIV, Professor of Art, pro-rector of Lviv Academy of Arts:
“I consider Andrzej Strumillo to be one of those universal artists, who formed his inner world based on broad experience and practices both in art and life. He is an eager traveler, he delights in different cultures, tried to visit different parts of the world in order to experience the flavor of different cultures and compare them in the light of his perception. He was born in Lithuania, was brought up and studied in Poland, later received some training in Moscow, and had an exhibition in China… I find such type of artist extremely impressive because everything that comes from under his brush and pen is marked with, primarily, profound life experience and beliefs that are not casual, not occasional… So, if a person has something to say to others, when a person works systematically, the versatility does not have a negative impact on the aesthetic outcome of creativity.
“I carefully examined the exhibition and I was very pleased to see that Strumillo in each case set a very specific task for himself, which came out of the subject he worked on. When Strumillo starts working on some topic (here I speak primarily about Strumillo as a book designer), he reveals the subject of, let’s say, Vietnamese or Uzbek poetry in an extremely adequate way, subtly and keenly interprets a totally different cultural layer – different from the one he belongs to. The system of his images is very monumental. Only a person who is very tolerant to different cultures, who does not exalt himself, but instead tries to understand something greater in this world, can master it. Therefore, everything he does warrants trust.
“In terms of professionalism and the tasks he solves in, for example, painting, Professor Strumillo looks very and very young. His teacher was Wladyslaw Strzeminski, who founded a very powerful school of Polish avant-garde in Lodz. It seems to me that Strumillo took over the Polish avant-garde very well, he managed to keep the continuity of the tradition of experimental art, but in a line, where this art developed in the philosophical and constructive key.
“In my opinion, Strumillo does not yield to any young artists, he remains dynamic in his development, always sets new interesting goals for himself, and, most importantly, remains within the limits of the professional art, and it is very instructive for all of us.”
Exhibition of art works by Andrzej Strumillo is open at Lviv Palace of Arts (17 Kopernika Street) until the end of August.
