Andrzej Klimowski

Work:: Andrzej Klimowski (S555256148)

This exhibition is the first retrospective of its kind: a remarkable collection of poster and book jacket designs created over the past twenty years by Andrzej Klimowski, illustrator, animator, graphic designer and film-maker. This showcase of over 200 printed exhibits, including many original artworks represents Klimowski's work from the mid 1970s to the present; from examples of his poster designs, book jacket design and illustration to TV graphics and animation. The exhibition is curated by Klimowski himself in collaboration with graphic designer Jeff Willis. This exhibition is pertinent and timely, giving a unique insight into the rise of the graphic artist, the art of interpretation and visual communication and a profession that is facing the challenges of new media, new markets and ever-changing audiences. Klimowski's skilful use of collage creates a world full of psychological tensions and suspense where reality and dreams, daily life and theatre, realism and surrealism collide. In his own words, "tension really is the key word. Images without tension are purely decorative or formal". Known for his motifs of fantasy, anxiety, ambiguity and eroticism, prominent images and themes in Klimowski's graphic work are the eye, the mask, the human head, metamorphosis and the surreal elements that inhabit the ordinary world. Born to Polish parents in London in 1949, Klimowski studied painting, sculpture and graphic art at St Martin's School of Art, London and then poster design and film animation at Warsaw Academy of Fine Art. He lives and works in London where he is a Senior Tutor in Illustration at the Royal College of Art. Working as a graphic artist in Warsaw from 1973 - 1980, Klimowski became an exponent of what was then internationally recognised as the "Polish School" of poster design; artists who specialised in posters for cinema and the theatre using painting and photo-collage techniques. Success came in the mid 70s with posters for films such as Altman's Nashville (1976). His 1981 poster for Luis Bunuel's The Phantom of Liberty, consisting of a photomontage of his wife's naked torso and the head and feathers body of an ostrich was banned by the London Underground. Since the end of the seventies, Klimowski has produced an enormous range of highly distinctive illustrations and graphics for the media including cinema, the theatre, the press, books, magazines and advertising. His own wordless novels of suspense are published by Faber & Faber and show his illustrations in a dramatic context. Among the authors for whom Klimowski has created book jackets are Mario Vargas Llosa, Tadeusz Rozewicz, Harold Pinter and Milan Kundera. Pinter himself chose Klimowski to illustrate the jackets of his books for the Faber & Faber editions. He has also been the preferred illustrator for cover designs and illustrations to the works of Kant, Walter Benjamin, Joyce and Picasso. Clients include Faber & Faber, The Guardian, The Observer, The Times, Oberon Books, Icon Books, Editions du Seuil, Czytelnik, Nasza Ksiegarnia, Editions Robert Lafont, Picador, Marie Claire London and Milan, BIBA, New Scientist, Pentagram Design, Tricket & Webb, Esterson & Lakersteen, Teatr Powszechny w Warszawie, Teatr Polski w Wroclawiu, Teatr Nowy w Poznaniu, National Theatre, RSC, Theatre Clwyd, Channel 4, Royal Mail, Abbott Mead Vickers.Andrzej Kimowski's works in public collections include National Museum, Warsaw, National Museum, Poznan, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Library of Congress Washington DC, Museum of Science and Technology Los Angeles, European Illustration Collection Hull.

Listing:: L0346616005

Lyttelton Exhibition Foyer

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Production details

Lyttelton Exhibition Foyer