Janusz SZPYT (b. 1960), Sleeper, 2023

acrylic, canvas, 40 x 80 cm, framed: 55 x 95 cm, signed p.d.: J. Szpyt

Janusz Szpyt was born in 1960 in Lubaczow, where he lives and works. He studied at the Faculty of Graphic Arts in Katowice at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow in the studio of Professor Jerzy Duda-Gracz, and then at the Faculty of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow in the studio of Professor Włodzimierz Buczek. In 1983, he co-founded, with Piotr Naliwajko and Leszek Żegalski, the Group of Three, also known as the "Excessive Tercet". "The All-New Wild Dadaists" - as they perversely called themselves - issued a manifesto in their magazine Bengal, in which they called for truth in art related to the quality of form, color and workshop, opposing the widely prevailing painting and media trash. "We want painting to express the spirit of our times in the most individual way possible, to be a humanistic protest of thinking people against all manifestations of evil, to be a continuation of the traditions of our societies. We want to express this with painting based on the unity of composition, drawing and color, in a word, PERFECT PAINTING with perfect knowledge of the workshop [...]" Numerous exhibitions organized at home and abroad by the Group were accompanied by artistic ferment reflected in the press radio and television.
Janusz Szpyt's work, which falls within the convention of realist painting, can be divided into several thematic strands. His shocking painting accounts of insane asylums, psychiatric hospitals show people tired to the extreme of carrying their lives. The artist dramatically defends what constitutes the essence of humanity ? the personal dignity of man "Christmas in a Mental Institution" (canvas, 290 x 340 cm, 1988). The sacred theme actualizes the truths of faith by showing what is beyond time and universal in the reality of man - a series of contemporary crucifixions "Crucifixion" (canvas, 210 x 260cm, 1989), "Sacrifice of Isaac" (oil on canvas, 110 x 90cm, 1989). In his surrealist paintings, man continues to be the main motif. The Orwellian atmosphere of these works shows the oppression and enslavement of individuality by the totalitarian system, and are an emanation of the reality of martial law - the series of flying stoves "Brother-in-law" (oil on board, 120 x 100cm, 1988). The consequence of these painting and life experiences was an attempt to take an ironic look at the tragicomic existence of man and his problems. This kind of painting journalism is full of distance and self-criticism to what seems important to us "Sisyphus" (oil on canvas, 120 x 100cm, 1996), "Road to the Union" (oil on canvas, 120 x 100cm, 2004). As if out of a need for balance, the artist simultaneously seeks classically conceived beauty in family portraits - "Childhood" (oil on board, 55 x 46cm, 2008), landscapes - "Roztocze" (oil on canvas, 30 x 40cm, 2009), nudes - "Reading" (oil on canvas, 69 x 86cm, 2011) and flowers - "Lilacs" (oil on canvas, 70 x 50cm, 2010). An important part of his work is monumental sacred painting - polychrome in St. Stanislaus Church in Lubaczow.
Janusz Szpyt perfectly reflects reality through art, creates an excellent documentation of human fate. The artist has a thorough mastery of the workshop, he freely uses form and color, masterfully operates light, guides the brush with virtuosity. The artist exhibits his works at collective and individual art presentations at home and abroad.