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Roman Opalka (1931)

Aliases: Roman Opałka

Professions: Painter; Etcher

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    ROMAN OPALKA

    ROMAN OPALKA

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    ROMAN OPALKA (NE EN 1931)

    ROMAN OPALKA (NE EN 1931)

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    Roman Opalka (b. 1931)

    Roman Opalka (b. 1931)

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    ROMAN OPALKA

    ROMAN OPALKA

Roman Opalka Biography

(b Abbeville, 27 Aug 1931). Polish painter, etcher and conceptual artist. He studied at the School of Fine Arts in Lódz (1949–50) and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (1950–56). His early works were influenced by Neo-Constructivist tendencies, then very prevalent in Polish art. He gradually moved towards conceptual art and developed monochrome compositions that repeat a particular motif in rhythmic sequences. Chronomes (1961–3; Lódz, Mus. A.) are abstract paintings composed of a multitude of minute dots. In Banners (1967; Warsaw, N. Mus.), a series of etchings, Opalka took a fragment of a photograph showing a street demonstration and repeated it many times in different sizes in the same work. He also created the series Three-dimensional Structures (1964–7; artist’s col.), made of battens and canvas, composed of only horizontal lines. In a series of etchings based on biblical themes, Description of the World (1968–70; Warsaw, N. Mus.), Opalka again explored the idea of the repetition of similar motifs, as in Adam and Eve (1968), where the two figures emerge from among a mass of human beings. In 1965 Opalka began the Counted Paintings (examples in Lódz, Mus. A.), a lifelong task of painting numbers in sequence beginning with number one and extending in theory to infinity. Each work in the series, entitled Detail , has the same dimensions (1.96*1.35 m) and a grey background, with numbers painted in white, in even rows, from edge to edge; the intensity of the white lessens gradually, as the quantity of acrylic paint on the brush diminishes. The first Detail shows numbers from 1 to 35328, the second begins with number 35329. Every five years the artist adds a little white to the grey, so that the background will eventually be as white as the numbers. In 1972 he started to record his voice on tape, counting, and to photograph himself while painting, registering with calligraphic precision the passing of time and the process of artistic creation.

Grove Art excerpts - Electronic ©2003, Oxford Art Online

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