Ryszard Woźniak. Lunapark Europa

Lunapark Europa, an exhibition of paintings by Ryszard Woźniak organised at the Mazowieckie Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej „Elektrownia” in Radom, is the third project presenting the public with the individual, current artistic explorations of members of the legendary Gruppa. Following the exhibitions of Ryszard Grzyb (W samym środku życia jest malarstwo, 2023) and Paweł Kowalewski (Porażka rozumu, 2024), Ryszard Woźniak offers visitors a selection of more than 100 paintings created over the last 25 years.

The unifying motif of the event is the popular amusement venue, the lunapark, which operated in the Warsaw district of Stegny-Rożek between 1995 and 1998 and was closed after a serious accident. Abandoned infrastructure and the absurd atmosphere of a disused, decaying funfair inspired the artist to a visual reflection, a metaphorical narrative about the behaviour of individuals and social groups facing the challenges and consequences of Poland's aspirations and presence within the structures of the European Union. Enthusiasm, expectations, hopes, scepticism, disappointment and the questioning of the meaning of belonging, set against the social and political contexts of the last quarter century, became the foundation for the creative decisions of an artist who observes the rapidly changing reality attentively and critically.

The exhibition is defined by premiere works and pieces rarely shown, mainly in venues of local reach. The last, title cycle is entirely new. On the level of meaning, the exhibition points to the linguistic character of the painting practised by Ryszard Woźniak. The artist focuses on areas of the language of visual culture, where he finds different kinds of energy accumulating and mixing. He seeks their sources in a past that is closer or more distant to him. The paintings illustrate ways in which topoi of signs and symbols migrate from the past into the future, point to their hidden durability and linguistic currency, and reveal their presence in contemporary narratives of modernisation. The exhibition is accompanied by a substantial publication under the same title, containing critical texts, an interview with the artist and reproductions of the works on display.

Ryszard Woźniak (1956) – painter, performer, installation artist, art theorist, educator. Studied at the Faculty of Painting of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (1976–1981). Diploma in the studio of Professor Stefan Gierowski. Co-founder of the artistic formation Gruppa (1982–1992). The artist's works are held in the collections of the National Museum in Warsaw, the National Museum in Kraków, the Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw, the Museum of Art in Łódź, the Silesian Museum in Katowice, the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom, the Leon Wyczółkowski District Museum in Bydgoszcz, as well as the Jacek Malczewski Museum in Radom.