Jerzy Michalski - CV

The new paintings of Jerzy Michalski, as aesthetically absorbing, hypnotically detailed and rich with breathtaking colour tones as they are, are an exercise in social commentary. Threaded through these artworks is an incredulous and urgent critique of digital culture and social media – as reflected in the exhibition title, Facades.
“it’s not only about buildings,” says Michalski, whose paintings feature architecture and structures of various kinds. “It’s also about the facades of our life: what we are showing, and how we project to the world in this age of showing off through social media. I’m trying to paint this problem, because people are forgetting about reality: poverty, inequality, democracy, all this stuff happening now.”
Michalski’s unique style has been greatly influenced by regular trips to Japan. Enthralled by the country’s art, design and society, Michalski, who grew up in Poland and came to Australia in 1992, says his new works are a “visit to Japan by painting” as he has been unable to travel due to Covid-19.
“In Japan, art is about mixing reality with abstract thinking,” he says. “They have a special perspective. Colour in japan is incredible. I like cities, and Japanese cities are absolutely stunning, especially Tokyo. All the architecture is a big influence on my work.” When you consider that Michalski works out of a rural studio in bushland an hour from Hobart, this affection for cities might seem surprising – as might his engagement with social media and the Maelstrom of life online. “This way you can have a distance, and reflect on it more,” he says of his removal from the world when he works. In essence, escaping from civilisation has allowed him special insight into it, as the works in Facades show. - Barnaby Smith, ArtGuide Australia, Issue 134 November/December 2021, pg. 61

For those questioning the relevance of most genres of art to life, it can be said that it transcends the boundaries of language, national culture, religion and politics.  It speaks to us without the need for words, while offering space within which we can experience our own mental and emotional reactions to the images, forms, movements or notes, without the load of academic explanations.

Jerzy, born and educated (At Poznan University of Arts, where he later became an Associate Professor) in Poland, he is now resident in Murdunna on the Forrestier Peninsula, and is a masterful exponent of the above tenet.
He says, “It is not enough to simply copy what is in front of you, you need to have some reason or drive to paint.”  I would add that there is, in most artists a need to create, often germinated at a young age by their environment.   Michael Denholm, in his book ‘Vineyard of Art’, would agree, and I quote: “Brought up as a Catholic, from an early age Michalski was involved in art as he was a compulsive drawer and wanted to be an artist.  Around the age of seven he hand-tinted black and white portrait photographs (Jerzy’s father was a photographer) and also made his own tempera using egg white and whatever “pigments” he could find, such as soot from the chimney for black, brick dust for a sienna effect and so on.”

Jerzy says: “My style includes magical realism, where you use reality to make your own reality; like constructing a ‘personal movie’.  His images are often ‘snap shots’ of moments in the subject’s lives, where they can be seen to be presented with choices of action.
He came to Tasmania via Melbourne in 1992, after separating from his wife.  “It changed my life completely”.  He was part owner of the Swing Bridge Gallery in Dunalley until the Port Arthur shootings killed the passing trade.

Australia, France, Belgium, Germany and Poland have enjoyed some of his fifty plus solo exhibitions, and he has been presented in Canberra, Brisbane, and Sydney and at the time of writing is showing at Colville Gallery, Salamanca.

Education And Travel

Solo Exhibitions

Selected Group Exhibitions

Awards And Scholarships

Commissions

Renovations

Selected Publications

Grazyna Banaszkiewicz ‘Enfilade to Nike’ Artistic Party – Ploish Site
Grazyna Banaszkiewicz ‘Lamus’ Polish Art Magazine 2/12 December 2013
''Art Interview'' Online Magazine ''Realist Paintings- by Robert Kennedy -October 2007.
''Jerzy Michalski- Selected Reviews-Australia '' April 2009, booklet.The Mercury-Hobart- May 2009, February 2011.
Life on The Edge'' Peter Adams Blog- February 2011.
Lexicon Of Polish Artists – Polish Academy Of
Science 1978-94.
Fine Arts In Poznan, Publishing House 1987.
Poznan- Academy Of Fine Arts Publication
1989.
The Mercury -Davies Bros.Ltd March 93/ Nov
94/ Dec 95/ Aug 98/ Sep 2000/ Dec 2001/ Sep 2004
Arts, Antiques, Auctions-Bruxelles Dec 1993.
Ideart News – Paris Jan 1994
The Bulletin News Weekly – Bruxelles Dec
1993
Artlink Australian Contemporary Art
Quarterly Vol.14, No.1, 1994
Art & Business_Poznan Poland, Jan 1994
The Canberra Times Feb 95/ June 95/ July 97/
Sep 99/ July 2001/ Oct 2003
Who’s Who Of Australian Visual Artists –
Thorpe Second Edition.
Craft Arts International, Issue 38, Oct 96.
The Courier Mail, August 97
The Review – Brisbane, Sep 97.
National Gallery Of Victoria Exhibition
Program 97/98.
Australian Art Collector, Issue 3-21; 24, 25,
28, 29, 32
Latarnik Polish Tv Arts Program 98, 99.
The Dictionary Of Biography – Polonia, Pwn,
Poland 2000
“Jerzy Michalski – The Artist” Film Doc.
Independent Production
By Roman Liszka – Gorzow Poland 2000.
Brisbane News May 26, 2004
Antipodes – New York June 26, 2004
4rph Radio Brisbane - Interview By Brenda
Gale – June 2005

Collections

Anu Collection Canberra;
Parliament House Collection Canberra;
The Tamar Collection Launceston;
Rolf Ditter Collection Haslach, Germany;
Academy Of Fine Arts Poznan, Poland;
Department For Education And The Arts, Warsaw, Poland;
National Museum And Art Gallery , Gdansk, Poland;
Silesia Museum And Art Gallery , Katowice, Poland;
Museum And Art Gallery , Koszalin, Poland;
Museum And Art Gallery Radom, Poland;
National Museum, Plovdiv, Bulgaria;
City Art Gallery Poznan, Poland;
City Art Gallery, Leszno, Poland;
City Gallery, Konin, Poland;
City Art Gallery, Bielsko Biala, Poland

Private Collections in USA, Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Austria, Bulgaria, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, China, Poland, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Argentina, Bolivia, Sweden