Anna Bocek Biography

Anna Bocek. Study at Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk, Poland - Faculty of Painting & Set Design.

MUSEUMS AND EXHIBITIONS(projects and production): Amber Museum, Gdansk, Poland Historical Museum, Gdansk Poland Museum OP, Kolobrzeg, Poland Archeology Museum, Gdansk, Poland Hevelianum Center, Gdansk, Poland Science Center, Gdansk, Poland National Museum, Gdansk, Poland

INSTITUTIONS AND AWARDS: 2009 I Prize of Internationales Kunstlersymposium, "Atelier an der Donau", Austria 2009 I Prize of "7 wonders of EU Funding" for "Hevelianum Center", Gdanak, Poland 2009 Special award in TOPTEN Women in the Art "ARTROM Gallery" Rome, Italy 2009 "De mariage a`la mer" permanent exhibition,Museum OP, Kolobrzeg, Poland 2008 „Amber Treasures of XVI - XVIII centuries" temporary exhibition, Amber Museum, Gdansk, Poland 2008 „Amber Diven” temporary exhibition, Amber Museum, Gdansk, Poland 2008 "Science Center" project and production,Gdansk, Poland; 2008 "Archaeology Museum" project and production,Gdansk; 2008 III Prize of TOPTEN Exquisite Expressions "ARTROM Gallery" Rome, Italy; 2008 "Hevelianum Center" project and production,Gdansk; 2007 Special award of "The Polish Heritage Association of the name of Wiktor Zin" for "Amber Museum Enterprise", Gdansk, Poland; 2006 "Amber Museum" project and production,Gdansk; 2005 Prizewinner of "Amber Museum's Project", Gdansk Poland; 2005 "Prizewinner of The Best of Soho Art Show" , New York, USA; 1997 First Prize for the best Shakespearean Set Designer Project, from Theatrum Gedanense Foundation of Prince Charles

THEATRE (set design): - considerable number set designs for various stage plays by Gogol, Fredro, Shakespeare, Gurney, Simon - set designs for various events, from theatrical fairy tales to big open air shows (e.g. ,,Ave Gedanum", the opening of Dominican Fair in Gdansk 1997 and 2001) in Poland, Ukraine, Czech Republic; - assistance and co-operation with renowned Polish set designers and directors

Exhibition Record (Galleries and Art Shows):

2005-2011 - "Anna Bocek- recent works" Canfin Gallery, Tarrytown, NY, USA - "Pure Paintings II" Art Affair Gallery, Regensburg, Germany - Palazzo Palmieri, Martignano, Puglia, Italy - Internationales Kunstlersymposium, "Atelier an der Donau", Museum of Oscar Kokoschka, Pöchlarn, Austria - "Painting exhibition" Polish Consulate General in Malmö, Sweden - "New Works", Canfin Gallery, Tarrytown, NY, USA - “Recent Works- winter collection” Art Affair Gallery, Regensburg, Germany 2008/2009 - "Mich zu bewahren"Art Affair Gallery Regensburg, Germany, 2007 - Nouvelle Biennale, Galerie de la Marine, Nice, France; - The Fusion Gallery, Alicante, Spain; - "Visions of a Woman" Art Affair Galerie, Cannes, France; - "III Painting Meeting La Alberca" Spain; - "Amber Museum" design of the visual setting,Gdansk; - "Stage Design and Spatial Forms" National Museum in Gdansk; - "Zeitgenössische gegenständliche Kunst" Art Affair Gallery, Regensburg, Germany; - "Summertime" Levent Gallery London; - "Painting Exhibition - Elements II",Fabryka Trzciny, Warsaw; - "Painting Exhibition I", Galeria Aneri, Gdansk;

2003-2004 - "Vier Leidenschaften", Kunstsalon Düsseldorf, Dusseldorf, Germany; - The Gallery Beckenham, London, England; - "Recent Works : Anna Bocek; Enver Gursev", - "La Agenda Art - Special March 04 - Anna Bocek" La Agenda Office & Project Management, Mallorca-Spain; - "La Agenda Art - Special Jan 04 - Erling Leick & Anna Bocek" La Agenda Office & Project Management, Majorka- Spain; - "Collective Extension", The Confusion Art Gallery, Piacenza, Italy; - "La Agenda Art- Special Nov/Dec - Jim Bassett & Anna Bocek" - La Agenda Office & Project Management, Mallorka-Spain; - "Painting Exhibition - part II", Art-Domain.Com Gallery, Mallorca, Spain; - "Recent Works : Enver Gursev; John Brown F.R.B.S.; Anna Bocek", The Gallery Beckenham, London, England; - "Painting Exhibition", World Fine Art Gallery, New York, USA; - "Shakespeare Set Design Exhibition" Theatrum Gedanese Foundation, Gdansk; - "Painting Exhibition", Dimidium Toto Gallery, Sopot; - "III Art Festival of Gdansk ", Era Art, Gdansk; - "Painting Exhibition - part I", Art-Domain.Com Gallery, Mallorca, Spain; - “Women in Painting" - Tygiel Gallery, Gdynia;

2001-2002 - "Painting Exhibition" - Cascada Warszawa; - "In Old Gdynia's Cinema", Centre of Franciscan, Gdynia; - "Gate of Memory" Historical Exhibition Centre of St, John, Gdansk; - "II Art Festival of Gdansk ", Era Art Gdansk ; - "Painting Exhibition" - Gallery ' 78 Gdynia; - "Just a man" Young Designers Exhibition Centre of St, John, Gdansk; - "I Art Festival of Gdansk ", Gdansk; - "Searching for style", National Museum in Gdansk,

1996-1999 - "Pattern & Space", National Museum in Gdansk, - "Andrzej Markowicz & his students", Sopot Designer's Gallery, Sopot; - "Young Designers Exhibition" Baltic Dramatic Theather, Koszalin; - "Design projects exhibition", Gdansk; - "Portfolio" - State Gallery of Art, Sopot;

Magazine and Newspaper References: 2009/07 "Warp Magazine" No.18 "ANNA BOCEK- Painting Life" pages 103/104; Mexico 2008/07/19 "Gazeta Wyborcza","Hevelianum Center", 2007/07 "The Pat Magazine" , "ArtHouse-Anna Bocek", 2007/05 "Amber.com.pl.","'Coffee and...' in Museum of Amber" 2007/04 "The Female Focus",","The Art of Discovery", 2007 "This Is", "Art@the fusion gallery", 2006 "30 Days Magazine", "Amber Museum", 2006/11 "NeuroTransmitter","Farbenprächtige Lebendigkeit- Anna Bocek", 2006/08/24 "All in London", "Anna Bocek Art Exhibition 'Summertime'" 2004/07/13 "Croydon Guardian", "Exhibition of the Week - Anna Bocek: July 2004" 2003/06 "Art Business News" 1999 "Theatre Magazine" nr 10/11/12- "Dining Room" A.R. Gurneya Jr, 1999/03/30 "Gazeta Wyborcza" "Makbeth"

Artist's Statement

“ICONS OF MODERN TIMES” - PAWEŁ HUELLE (...)Paweł Huelle is a novelist and poet. He was born in Gdańsk in 1957 and graduated in Polish Philology at the University of Gdańsk. He has worked in that city as an employee of the "Solidarity" press office, university lecturer, journalist, director of the Gdansk Polish Television Center and, most recently, as a columnist for "Gazeta Wyborcza". Honoured with many prestigious literary awards, Huelle is one of the most successful contemporary Polish writers. His first novel Who Was David Weiser (1987) was hailed by the critics as “the book of the decade,” “a masterpiece” and “a literary triumph” and has been published, among others, in Germany, Spain, France and Finland (...) On a scorching afternoon this June, I met Anna Bocek in the Old City of Gdańsk under rather unusual circumstances, at the opening of the Amber Museum. The presence of the artist was not accidental as her design was used to arrange the interior and the amber treasure exhibition in the medieval walls. The modern and daring production clearly showed the experience gained by Anna in her set design work for many, often famous, plays. However, the main area of artistic expression for Anna Bocek has always been painting. This conscious choice sets her roots and sources of fascination in European expressionism; however, she does not simply continue this trend or its postmodernist parodic development. One could say that the figures and faces painted by Anna are expressionistic in spirit as a result of her deep psychological fascination in man. The brilliantly captured gestures, grimaces and emotional states, as if with feminine intuition, are a real gallery of the most diverse dreams, depressions, ridiculousness, pride, sometimes reflection and melancholy. Moreover, these images of men and women are a clear sign of the artist’s distress: our modern life in mega cities means passing by hundreds and thousands of human faces, every one of them with its history, drama and individuality. A mass character of modern culture and our limited perceptions exclude any personification of this unique stream of information. Suffice it to make a simple exercise: how many faces seen during the last underground or bus journey are still in our memory? Have they given us some important information? Emotion? Fascination? Anna Bocek tries to extract from this magma what is the most interesting to an artist: differentiating, individual and outstanding elements that form an icon in modern times. Unlike Andy Warhol, who only reproduced what was repeated and popular. Perhaps this is the reason why the painter is searching in expressionism for some communication techniques. With these strong means of expression, she wants to leave a permanent trace in her and the viewer’s memory. At the same time, she is perverse, ironic and witty, which adds true value to her studies of faces and figures. Her pictures also remain in one’s memory because they are very subtly based on deep archetypes of our consciousness. They use colour and light contrasts boldly, often drawing psychological or social situations of people depicted. However, her images are not journalistic: the painter deprives neither media men nor sociologists of their jobs. Rather from her work they can learn many interesting things about us: entangled in modern times like in an enormous, gigantic network of visual information. Painting means reflection, not production. This simple, though often forgotten truth, is brilliantly reminded by Anna Bocek. 29.06.2006