Henryk Cześnik

Henryk Cześnik (born April 12, 1951 in Sopot) – Polish painter, draftsman, professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk].

He studied at the Faculty of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk (the current name of the university since 1996: the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk). Diploma in 1977 in the Painting Studio of prof. Kazimierz Ostrowski. He is the head of the Painting Studio. He obtained the title of professor in 1994 – he works as an associate professor.

Pictures on hospital sheets have become Professor Cześnik’s hallmark. The characters related to the health service, elements of hospital equipment, or the dark mood of these works appearing in them are the fruit of a long time of illness, which left a clear mark on his work. “The passing, the degradation of matter, and thus the number of people in Cześnik’s work is omnipresent. (…) This is not a dangerous memento mori, but an observation. It is in nature and there is no need to be surprised, so it may be more terrifying. The biologicality of the sheets is strikingly visible. As in a Turin shroud, humanity is visible on them from under what Cześnik painted on them ”. (Andrzej Matynia)