Opening on:
Friday, 3 February 2017, at 7 pm

An exhibition of works from the latest painting cycle by Bartłomiej Otocki entitled Less Time Left than It Seems. Its central theme is an instinctive concern about life, primarily the future and the dangers - real and imagined - it carries. The artist is a sensitive seer depicting his individual visions and premonitions with the use of sophisticated painting techniques.

"When exactly do we reach the point in which realize that something is wrong? How much time do we need to become reconciled with the inevitable? What's the taste of the things to come? Often, the progress of downfall is incredibly subtle. Few are those who exhibit enough sensitivity and alertness to see the insidious symptoms that lead to the eventual catastrophe. But when the thin line is finally crossed, the chances for survival are slim. The beginning of the end is not necessarily as dramatic as a racist lynch or a stock market crash. Whenever we read a historical book, we ask ourselves how come they were blind to the obvious threats? Why didn't they run away?

This instinctive concern about the future is the underlying reason behind the series Less Time Left Than It Seems. The work takes the form of a more or less surreal vision in which real and (perhaps) imaginary threats intertwine. The chronological sequence of events is difficult to establish - some of the paintings offer just are just a glimpse of things to come after the disaster without suggesting that those final events will actually be witnessed by human beings".

Bartłomiej Otocki

Bartłomiej Otocki - born in 1978 in Łódź; degree in painting under Professor Ryszard Hunger at the Faculty of Graphics and Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Lódź (2003); Ph.D. at the Faculty of Painting at the University of Arts in Poznań (2011); habilitation at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk (2014). Lecturer from 2003 to 2012; assistant professor ever since at the Department of Painting and Drawing of the Faculty of Textile and Fashion at the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź. Head of the Faculty of Painting and New Media at the Academy of Art in Szczecin since 2012; associate professor since 2014.

Painter and photographer, curator, juror at painting competitions. His work cycles include Portraits from Memory, Alchemy of Illusion, Is it safe? and Yang!. More than n 50 solo and collective exhibitions at the Contemporary Museum in Wrocław, The Historical Museum of Łódź, Galeria Bielska BWA, the National Museum in Szczecin, the Polish Sculpture Centre in Orońsko, and other. A slew of awards and honourable mentions at the Third Festival of Young Art "Przeciąg" in Szczecin, including the purchase of his work by the Zachęta Gallery in Szczecin and a solo exhibition; Award of the Rector of the Academy of Fine Arts for artistic and educational achievements in the academic year 2011/2012; statutory award, honourable mention from the magazine OBIEG at the 38th Biennale of Painting "Bielska Jesień 2007" in Galeria Bielska BWA in Bielsko-Biała.

The exhibition runs from 3 February to 5 March 2017