Andrzej Nowacki. Exploring the square

Introduction
 

A white square seems to float above the black, also square background area. Over it, stopped in their movement, are three lines drawn in black which rise upwards on the right, not precisely parallel to the left-hand edge. Three tangible lines, shown as a relief due to the physicality of the wooden spars. It is as though they are longing for a contact that can never come to fruition, since nothing more exists beyond the square. They are disconcerting, yet they also feel harmonious; they are silent and black in their white surroundings.

This was in 1987, in West Berlin, one of Andrzej Nowacki’s first exhibitions. In the interim, his art has changed significantly, yet there is a clear path of development from the early years to his current work. The path did not simply run straight. Individual phases interchanged, alternated, and to a certain extent inspired each other. However, several constant, unmistakeable features are recognisable. There is emotive expressiveness counterpointed by the strict, abstract language of geometry and the preferred form: the relief, a three-dimensional, spatial image. In a square.

Life journeys 1
 

There appears to be nothing special about the place where Nowacki was born, a small provincial town in the south of Poland. It would be difficult to determine how much influence it would have on his later life. The area was once part of the legendary territory of Galicia, now lost, a strip of land in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. With its unique, multicultural history, the old myths surrounding this region, which now belongs to Poland, can still be felt today. However, every province harbours a centrifugal force that can hurl a person out into the wide outside world.

One important feature was the proximity to Kraków, a cultural and artistic centre, a place that contributed to an opening and to cultural sensitivity. There, the future artist mainly associated with artists and with the students at the Academy. During the 1970s, he made his first trips abroad, to Sweden, Germany and Austria, where he continued his studies.

He gradually took steps towards becoming actively involved in art, no doubt depending on the individuals with whom he came into contact. They included the underrated Polish artist Marian Kruczek (Fig. 01) with his eccentric, creative personality, or the great geometrist Henryk Stażewski (Fig. 02). At the end of the 1970s, Nowacki came to West Germany and finally settled in West Berlin. Up until the period of his artistic initiation, he spent some time working as a specialist and advisor in the field of art. During the mid-1980s, he began to paint. Shortly afterwards, he created his first reliefs, with his début exhibition following in 1987.