Wilhelm Sasnal
Encyclopedia
Wilhelm Sasnal is a Polish
painter. Sasnal received his diploma of painting in 1999 from the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków
.
, Poland, in 1972. He studied architecture for two years at the Polytechnic, Kraków, beginning in 1992, and then became a painting student at the Akademia Sztuk Pięknych w Krakowie, Poland. While there, he helped form an artist's collective that exhibited together as the Ładnie Group until 2000. Ironically named after the Polish word meaning "pretty" or "nice," the members made paintings of their contemporary, often banal surroundings, using a deskilled aesthetic that countered the style valued by their instructors. Sasnal finished his studies in 1999, and then worked briefly for advertising companies in Kraków while also making paintings, graphic novels (his strips are regularly published in "Machina" and "Przekroj", two Polish periodicals), photographs, and films.
Sasnal is primarily a painter. There is no limits to what he paints: More or less banal everyday objects, portraits of historical figures, views of his home town Cracow, snapshots of friends and family members and very often existing images from the internet or mass media are his starting point. Other sources include Art Spiegelman
's 1973 graphic Holocaust novel Maus, and stills from Claude Lanzmann
's 1985 documentary Shoah
as source material. Even if, over the years, one can make out a number of overarching themes, there are always new paintings that shift the emphases and connections once again. The same is true of his painting style. His approach is unpredictable and his methods range from graphic reduction and a pointedly two-dimensional, illustration-oriented style to seemingly autonomous gestures with brush and paint. Like Neo Rauch
, however, Sasnal makes the grip of the Communist era on the post-Communist imagination his subject.
While painting is still at the centre of Sasnal’s work, he has also increasingly turned to photography and film in recent years. The video work The Band (2002) was made during a live performance of indie rock band Sonic Youth
. A 2007 piece is a product many times removed from the 1961 Polish movie on which it is based – a fictionalized account of a historical event in which a railway worker accidentally sold industrial methyl alcohol as vodka, causing widespread illness, blindness and death. The 16-mm film projection Untitled (2007) is based on found-footage from the late 1970s of Elvis Presley
. Swiniopas (Swineherd) (2008), his first ever feature-length film, is an adaptation of a 1842 Hans Christian Andersen
fairytale of the same name yet radically deviates from the original. Shot in black and white, Sasnal’s version is set in bleak, rural Poland. It concerns a swineherd who smuggles letters back and forth between a farmer’s daughter and her lesbian lover. Also in 2008, Sasnal caused controversy in Scotland with his film The Other Church, which focused on the brutal murder of the Polish student Angelika Kluk in Glasgow.
In September 2011, Sasnal selected a playlist of music that inspires him in his work. "I always listen to music when I make art. I do about 30 minutes of work and then have a break between records. The link is that they are all very simple songs, classical in structure - from Elvis Presley
to Slayer
- and that’s what I like about them. Some of them ended up in my films."
2011
Wilhelm Sasnal, Whitechapel Gallery, London, England
2009
Hauser & Wirth, Zurich, Switzerland
Centro de Arte Contemporanea, Malaga, Spain
Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen K21, Düsseldorf, Germany
Sadie Coles HQ, London, UK
2008
Wilhelm Sasnal. Lata walki / Years of Struggle, Galleria Civica di Arte Contemporanea, Trento, Italy (Travelling Exhibition)
2007
Wilhelm Sasnal. Lata walki / Years of Struggle, Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland (Travelling Exhibition)
Wilhelm Sasnal. Untitled, Swiss Institute, New York NY, USA
Hauser & Wirth, Zurich, Switzerland
Boredom, Johnen Galerie, Berlin, Germany
2006
Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
Sadie Coles HQ, London, UK
At the very Center of Attention, Part 10: Wilhelm Sasnal, Center of Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, Poland
Foksal Gallery Foundation, Warsaw, Poland
Wilhelm Sasnal. Painting and Films, Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven, Netherlands
Ist das Leben nicht schön? Gruppenaustellung in 4 Kapiteln, Kapitel 2: Wilhelm Sasnal, Kunstverein Frankfurt, Germany
2005
Matrix 219, UC Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley CA, USA
Anton Kern Gallery, New York NY, USA
Wilhelm SAsnal. Chinati Artist in Residence, The Locker Plant, Marfa TX, USA
2004
The Band, Hauser & Wirth, Zurich, Switzerland
Camden Arts Centre, London, UK
Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Munich, Germany
ZAWA SROD, Galerie Johnen und Schöttle, Cologne, Germany
Map Trap, Galerie Raster, Warsaw, Poland
2003
Kunstverein Münster, Germany
Kunsthalle Zürich, Switzerland
Sadie Coles HQ, London, UK
Wilhelm Sasnal - Monika Sosnowska, Galleria Laura Pecci, Milan, Italy
Anton Kern Gallery, New York NY, USA
Interventions: Wilhelm Sasnal, Museum van Hedendaagsekunst, Antwerp, Belgium
WISLA, Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
2002
Galerie Johnen und Schöttle, Cologne, Germany
Foksal Gallery Foundation, Warsaw, Poland
Parel, Amsterdam, Netherlands
BWA Gallery, Zielona Gora, Poland
2001
Cars and Men, Foksal Gallery Foundation, Warsaw, Poland
Everyday Life in Poland between 1999 and 2001, Foksal Gallery Foundation, Warsaw, Poland
2000
Board Game, Galeria Potocka, Cracow, Poland
1999
The Hundred Pieces, Galeria Zderzak, Cracow, Poland
The Crowd, billboards of Galleria Otwarta, Cracow, Poland
Painting, CCA Ujadowski Castle, Warsaw, Poland
Group Exhibitions
2009
Abstraction + Warhol, Woxart, Prague, Czech Republic
Something Else!!! Selected Works from the Collection of the SMAK, Gent, Museo d' Arte Provincia di Nuoro, Nuoro, Italy
Invasion of Sound. Music and the Visual Arts, Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland
and Tate Modern
in London and Museum of Modern Art
in Warsaw.
in Europe 2006.
in March 2006 and at Christie’s (New York) Post-War and Contemporary Art sale in May 2007.
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
painter. Sasnal received his diploma of painting in 1999 from the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków
Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts
The Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts, or Kraków Academy of Fine Arts , located in Kraków, Poland, is the oldest Polish fine-arts academy, established in 1818.It is a state-run university that offers 5- and 6-year Master's degree programs...
.
Early life and career
Wilhelm Sasnal was born in TarnówTarnów
Tarnów is a city in southeastern Poland with 115,341 inhabitants as of June 2009. The city has been situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999, but from 1975 to 1998 it was the capital of the Tarnów Voivodeship. It is a major rail junction, located on the strategic east-west connection...
, Poland, in 1972. He studied architecture for two years at the Polytechnic, Kraków, beginning in 1992, and then became a painting student at the Akademia Sztuk Pięknych w Krakowie, Poland. While there, he helped form an artist's collective that exhibited together as the Ładnie Group until 2000. Ironically named after the Polish word meaning "pretty" or "nice," the members made paintings of their contemporary, often banal surroundings, using a deskilled aesthetic that countered the style valued by their instructors. Sasnal finished his studies in 1999, and then worked briefly for advertising companies in Kraków while also making paintings, graphic novels (his strips are regularly published in "Machina" and "Przekroj", two Polish periodicals), photographs, and films.
Work
Sasnal produces pencil drawings, ink drawings, photographs, videos and paintings. In his art he employs a variety of media and cultivates a non-uniform practice.Sasnal is primarily a painter. There is no limits to what he paints: More or less banal everyday objects, portraits of historical figures, views of his home town Cracow, snapshots of friends and family members and very often existing images from the internet or mass media are his starting point. Other sources include Art Spiegelman
Art Spiegelman
Art Spiegelman is an American comics artist, editor, and advocate for the medium of comics, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning comic book memoir, Maus. His works are published with his name in lowercase: art spiegelman.-Biography:Spiegelman was born in Stockholm, Sweden, to Polish Jews...
's 1973 graphic Holocaust novel Maus, and stills from Claude Lanzmann
Claude Lanzmann
Claude Lanzmann is a French filmmaker and professor at European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland.-Biography:Lanzmann attended the Lycée Blaise-Pascal in Clermont-Ferrand. He joined the French resistance at the age of 18 and fought in Auvergne...
's 1985 documentary Shoah
Shoah (film)
This page is about the film by the name of Shoah. For other uses, see Shoah Shoah is a 1985 French documentary film directed by Claude Lanzmann about the Holocaust...
as source material. Even if, over the years, one can make out a number of overarching themes, there are always new paintings that shift the emphases and connections once again. The same is true of his painting style. His approach is unpredictable and his methods range from graphic reduction and a pointedly two-dimensional, illustration-oriented style to seemingly autonomous gestures with brush and paint. Like Neo Rauch
Neo Rauch
Neo Rauch is a German artist whose paintings mine the intersection of his personal history with the politics of industrial alienation. His work reflects the influence of socialist realism, and owes a debt to Surrealists Giorgio de Chirico and René Magritte, although Rauch hesitates to align...
, however, Sasnal makes the grip of the Communist era on the post-Communist imagination his subject.
While painting is still at the centre of Sasnal’s work, he has also increasingly turned to photography and film in recent years. The video work The Band (2002) was made during a live performance of indie rock band Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...
. A 2007 piece is a product many times removed from the 1961 Polish movie on which it is based – a fictionalized account of a historical event in which a railway worker accidentally sold industrial methyl alcohol as vodka, causing widespread illness, blindness and death. The 16-mm film projection Untitled (2007) is based on found-footage from the late 1970s of Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
. Swiniopas (Swineherd) (2008), his first ever feature-length film, is an adaptation of a 1842 Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author, fairy tale writer, and poet noted for his children's stories. These include "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," "The Snow Queen," "The Little Mermaid," "Thumbelina," "The Little Match Girl," and "The Ugly Duckling."...
fairytale of the same name yet radically deviates from the original. Shot in black and white, Sasnal’s version is set in bleak, rural Poland. It concerns a swineherd who smuggles letters back and forth between a farmer’s daughter and her lesbian lover. Also in 2008, Sasnal caused controversy in Scotland with his film The Other Church, which focused on the brutal murder of the Polish student Angelika Kluk in Glasgow.
In September 2011, Sasnal selected a playlist of music that inspires him in his work. "I always listen to music when I make art. I do about 30 minutes of work and then have a break between records. The link is that they are all very simple songs, classical in structure - from Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
to Slayer
Slayer
Slayer is an American thrash metal band formed in Huntington Park, California, in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King. Slayer rose to fame with their 1986 release, Reign in Blood, and is credited as one of the "Big Four" thrash metal acts, along with Metallica, Megadeth and...
- and that’s what I like about them. Some of them ended up in my films."
Selected exhibitions
Solo Exhibitions2011
Wilhelm Sasnal, Whitechapel Gallery, London, England
2009
Hauser & Wirth, Zurich, Switzerland
Centro de Arte Contemporanea, Malaga, Spain
Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen K21, Düsseldorf, Germany
Sadie Coles HQ, London, UK
2008
Wilhelm Sasnal. Lata walki / Years of Struggle, Galleria Civica di Arte Contemporanea, Trento, Italy (Travelling Exhibition)
2007
Wilhelm Sasnal. Lata walki / Years of Struggle, Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland (Travelling Exhibition)
Wilhelm Sasnal. Untitled, Swiss Institute, New York NY, USA
Hauser & Wirth, Zurich, Switzerland
Boredom, Johnen Galerie, Berlin, Germany
2006
Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
Sadie Coles HQ, London, UK
At the very Center of Attention, Part 10: Wilhelm Sasnal, Center of Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, Poland
Foksal Gallery Foundation, Warsaw, Poland
Wilhelm Sasnal. Painting and Films, Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven, Netherlands
Ist das Leben nicht schön? Gruppenaustellung in 4 Kapiteln, Kapitel 2: Wilhelm Sasnal, Kunstverein Frankfurt, Germany
2005
Matrix 219, UC Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley CA, USA
Anton Kern Gallery, New York NY, USA
Wilhelm SAsnal. Chinati Artist in Residence, The Locker Plant, Marfa TX, USA
2004
The Band, Hauser & Wirth, Zurich, Switzerland
Camden Arts Centre, London, UK
Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Munich, Germany
ZAWA SROD, Galerie Johnen und Schöttle, Cologne, Germany
Map Trap, Galerie Raster, Warsaw, Poland
2003
Kunstverein Münster, Germany
Kunsthalle Zürich, Switzerland
Sadie Coles HQ, London, UK
Wilhelm Sasnal - Monika Sosnowska, Galleria Laura Pecci, Milan, Italy
Anton Kern Gallery, New York NY, USA
Interventions: Wilhelm Sasnal, Museum van Hedendaagsekunst, Antwerp, Belgium
WISLA, Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
2002
Galerie Johnen und Schöttle, Cologne, Germany
Foksal Gallery Foundation, Warsaw, Poland
Parel, Amsterdam, Netherlands
BWA Gallery, Zielona Gora, Poland
2001
Cars and Men, Foksal Gallery Foundation, Warsaw, Poland
Everyday Life in Poland between 1999 and 2001, Foksal Gallery Foundation, Warsaw, Poland
2000
Board Game, Galeria Potocka, Cracow, Poland
1999
The Hundred Pieces, Galeria Zderzak, Cracow, Poland
The Crowd, billboards of Galleria Otwarta, Cracow, Poland
Painting, CCA Ujadowski Castle, Warsaw, Poland
Group Exhibitions
2009
Abstraction + Warhol, Woxart, Prague, Czech Republic
Something Else!!! Selected Works from the Collection of the SMAK, Gent, Museo d' Arte Provincia di Nuoro, Nuoro, Italy
Invasion of Sound. Music and the Visual Arts, Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland
Collections
Sasnal's art work is in collections of such institutions as Saatchi GallerySaatchi Gallery
The Saatchi Gallery is a London gallery for contemporary art, opened by Charles Saatchi in 1985 in order to exhibit his collection to the public. It has occupied different premises, first in North London, then the South Bank by the River Thames and currently in Chelsea. Saatchi's collection, and...
and Tate Modern
Tate Modern
Tate Modern is a modern art gallery located in London, England. It is Britain's national gallery of international modern art and forms part of the Tate group . It is the most-visited modern art gallery in the world, with around 4.7 million visitors per year...
in London and Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
in Warsaw.
Recognition
He is the 2006 winner of the Vincent van Gogh Biennial Award for Contemporary ArtVincent Award
The Vincent Award is awarded every two years to a European artist that judges believe "will have significant, enduring impact on contemporary art."...
in Europe 2006.
Art market
Records for his works were set at Phillips de Pury & CompanyPhillips de Pury & Company
Phillips de Pury & Company is an auction house and art dealership, with offices in London, New York, Geneva, Berlin, Brussels, Los Angeles, Milan, Munich and Paris. Phillips conducts auctions in New York, London and Geneva in the areas of Contemporary Art, Photography, 20-21st Century Design, Art...
in March 2006 and at Christie’s (New York) Post-War and Contemporary Art sale in May 2007.
Further reading
- Dominic Eichler, Joerg Heiser and Andrzei Przywara, Wilhelm Sasnal, Phaidon Press, 2011, ISBN 0714860794
- Heynen, Julian (ed.), Wilhelm Sasnal, Munich: Prestel Verlag, 2009
- Nomination for the Vincent Award, by Beatrix Ruf, director of the Kunsthalle ZürichKunsthalle ZürichThe Kunsthalle Zürich is a contemporary art exhibition centre in Zurich, Switzerland. It is located on Limmatstrasse, near the city centre. The current director is Beatrix Ruf.A number of temporary exhibitions are organized each year...
http://www.thevincentaward.eu/content.asp?menumber=INDEX10003&panumber=L100030004&LANGUAGE=EN - Michael Zeeman, The Vincent Van Gogh Award for Contemporary Art in Europe, Veenman Publishers (2006), ISBN 9086900313
- Wilhelm Sasnal, Wilhelm Sasnal: Paintings & Films, Veenman Publishers (2006), ISBN 9086900046
- Carina Plath and Beatrix Ruf (ed.), Wilhelm Sasnal. Night Day Night, Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2003
Contributions
2008 Life on Mars, the 2008 Carnegie International http://blog.cmoa.org/CI08/2008/02/wilhelm-sasnal.phpExternal links
- Wilhelm Sasnal at Hauser & Wirth
- The Saatchi Gallery; About Wilhelm Sasnal and his art Additional information on Wilhelm Sasnal including artworks, text panels, articles, and full biography
- 2004 exhibit, culture.pl website with more at http://www.raster.art.pl/gallery/artists/sasnal/sasnal.htm
- http://artfacts.net/index.php/pageType/artistInfo/artist/14532
- Wilhelm Sasnal ist der polnische Roy Lichtenstein, Welt am Sonntag, April 25, 2004 - in German
- Wilhelm Sasnal essay by Lukasz Ronduda, MAP Magazine, Issue 13, Spring 2008