| Andrzej Zieliński | |
| Birth Date: | 1976 |
| Birth Place: | Kansas City, Missouri, US |
| Field: | Painting, Sculpture, Drawing, Printmaking |
| Training: | 2004, MFA, Yale University, New Haven, CT; 2002, BFA, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL |
| Awards: | 2009, Charlotte Street Fund Award; 2004, Alice Kimball English Travel Fellowship; 2002, Art Institute of Chicago Graduation BFA Fellowship[1] |
Andrzej Zieliński (born 1976, Kansas City, Missouri, USA) is an American painter.
Zieliński received his BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2002. In 2004 he earned his MFA from Yale University in New Haven, CT.
Zieliński's main body of work reflects on electronic devices that saturate our lives: cell phones, ATMs, computers, and paper shredders.[2] Zieliński's paintings are mixed media, which includes a variety of materials. The paintings are textured and have sculptural depth.. Often, he begins by painting wide strokes of interference paint which include titanium-coated mica flakes and change color depending upon the angle they are viewed from. Then, he outlines shapes painted thinly in acrylic with chalk or crayon and more paint. The result adds a third dimension to the traditional two-dimensional canvas.[3]
Zieliński entered Yale with a background in information theory and his artwork then consisted of conceptual collage grids made from cloth.[4] Over the next few years at Yale his work transformed from orderly black and white collages into intense bright paintings of everyday objects, including laptops. These works were humorous in their presentation. The lines were crooked, perspectives were tilted, and the colors were absurdly bright and reminiscent of Fauvist canvases.
Zieliński's next interest became ATM, paper shredders, and cell phones. Again, the artist painted in thick wild colors. Zieliński focused on how these machines hide their complexities behind their simple exteriors. ATM hold our most important financial information, yet most of us hardly know how they function.[5]
Zieliński makes painting relatable to the 21st century viewer with his subject matter. The cell phone has become a vital part of life in the current era.[6] Zieliński's paintings capture the deceptive simplicity of the technology that is so essential to our lives.