Jan BERDYSZAK (1934 Zawory - 2014 Poznań), Fragment as a radical whole XXIX, 1982-84

acrylic, canvas pasted on board; 82 x 64.5 cm;
signed, dated and described on the reverse: 126 MAD / FRAGMENT AS / RADICAL WHOLE XXIX / 1982 / 1984 / ACRYLIC / JAN / BER / DYSZ / AK

Provenance:
- collection of the artist's family
- private collection, Poznan

Work reproduced in the catalog:
Jan Berdyszak. Creativity from 1960-2002, Polish Sculpture Center, Orońsk 2002, p. 82, il. 78 (color).

Bibliography:
¬- Jan Berdyszak. Retrospective of selected issues from 1962-1995, Gallery of Contemporary Art of the Bureau of Artistic Exhibitions, Katowice 1996.
- Jan Berdyszak. Creativity from 1960-2002, Center for Polish Sculpture, Orońsk 2002.
- Jan Berdyszak. Works 1960-2006, op. M. Smolińska-Byczuk, W. Makowiecki, M. Pawłowski, Arsenal City Gallery, Poznań 2006


Jan Berdyszak's extremely rich artistic output oscillates around the issue of space, geometric and quasi-geometric forms. At the same time, the artist placed a strong emphasis on ontological concepts considered in the context of art. Fragmentation, emptiness, ambiguity were concepts taken up by the painter in many spatial, painting or photographic realizations. The offered object is characterized by its original form. On the one hand, it is a separate artistic entity, on the other, being part of a specific painting series, it is an expression of the artist's conceptual thought. In 1982 Berdyszak considered: "what fragments make and leave always fragments, and what can make them wholes?", "isn't the particular existence of a fragment its unrecognizability"? Digging deeper into the artist's theoretical inquiries, the collector's originality of his works becomes clearer.

In 1982-84, in addition to the series "Fragments as Radical Whole," which consisted of forty painting works, Jan Berdyszak made sculptures "Others to Bases," drawings "Being to Bases," and began the series "Around the Image." The first half of this decade was recorded in the biography of the artist with a lot of creative activity. Among other things, he made a series of autooffset "Studies after...", worked on objects "Complementary Reflections", "Ontic Triptychs", "Potential Image Characters" or "Cathedrals". The artist participated, for example, in the International Prague Quadriennale of Scenography, the Biennale of New Art in Zielona Gora and the International Biennale of Sculpture in Athens.