Opening Friday night, July 15th, 5pm - 8pm.

 

Vacation From Reality is Pener's first solo exhibition in New Zealand, and features a body of work two years in the making.

Pener first exhibited 4 works on paper with Fiksate Gallery back in 2019 as part of the Urban Abstract group show. Since then we have continued to exhibit a series of Peners larger mixed media paintings on canvas within the galleries inventory.

In 2020 we began the conversation of inviting Pener to Aotearoa for a solo show. However, the global pandemic delayed our goals. Now, as our borders reopen whe are excited to have this project come to light.

 

Bartek Świątecki aka Pener is a Polish artist whose work ranges from paintings on canvas and walls, over animation and site specific installations. Bartek Świątecki’s work mixes abstraction and traditional graffiti. High art and youth culture, modernism and skateboarding. His images are based around geometric groupings and angular forms which reference futuristic architectural design. The apparent slickness of Świątecki’s productions are often at odds with the decayed settings the works are placed in. The visual language used in these pieces gives a glimpse into a brave new world of graffiti and fine art cross over. It’s a world where graffiti writers are as happy to quote from De Stijl as they are Wu Tang.

Pener was born in 1981 and currently works as an art teacher in Olsztyn, Poland. In 2006 he graduated from the faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Nicolaus Copernicus in Toruń. He first came in contact with the street art scene around in 1995 when he tagged his name all over his city. Pener then later started to form his own style, which is characterized by graphical minimalism: straight lines and pure colors are combined to create geometrical clusters. Interestingly, Pener often breaks with the cleanness of his structures and lets the paint pour out of the shape or splatters paint onto them. This gives his pieces a strange liveliness and especially in an urban environment, integrates them well. It seems as if the dirt and dust from the streets affect the pieces actively.

Pener's work has appeared in exhibitions across Europe and in the US, as well as on the streets. Fiksate Gallery is excited to showcase the works of this groundbreaking, internationally recognised urban contemporary artist for our second exhibition for 2022.

 

 

 

Please note:
You will need to RSVP to this event through the free ticketing link. 

Please wear your mask inside the gallery. There will be a selection of drinks and snack boxes, but you will need to be seated or outside to drink these.

If you are feeling unwell or have any symptoms, please stay at home.