Krzysztof Bednarski – sculptor, author of artistic installations. Creates and works in Rome and Warsaw. From the time of his artistic academic formation, one of his most faithful companions has become Karl Marx, or more precisely – his image. It was then that, by handing over the Total Portrait of Karol Marx in 1978, realized under the supervision of Professor Jerzy Jarnuszkiewicz, he defended his diploma at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Bednarski’s creative path is marked by countless inspirations, from the world of personal experiences, from the world of poetry, literature, science and pop culture. This is how famous themes appeared – incl. “Moby Dick” or diamonds and hourglasses. This is just a small part of the forms that the artist’s expression has taken for years – from plaster sculptures, through casts, to multi-element artistic installations. The retrospective disposition, which manifests itself in the constant return to old works, reworking them and showing them in new faces, plays a significant role in Bednarski’s oeuvre. And it is the latter tendencies that have taken their toll the most since the “Italian Shoes Passage” opened in 1999.

The works of Krzysztof M. Bednarski are in the collections of the most important Polish museums, such as the National Museum in Krakow, Poznań, Szczecin, Warsaw, Wrocław, the Museum of Art in Łódź, the Center for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw, Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw, Center of Polish Sculpture in Orońsko, the District Museum of them. Leon Wyczółkowski in Bydgoszcz, the collections of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in Łódź and Wrocław, the collection of the Foksal Gallery in Warsaw, as well as in foreign collections, e.g. Collezione Giorgio Franchetti in Rome, Fondazione Federico Fellini in Rimini, Fondazione Morra in Naples, Fondazione Orestiadi in Gibellina in Sicily, Fondazione Mario Schifano in Rome, Fondazione Caporrella in Rome, Targetti Light Art Collection in Florence, Finland and the Museum of Art in Raum numerous private collections in Poland and abroad.

He is a laureate of prestigious awards, including scholarship of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1988-1989), award-scholarship of the Minister of Culture and Art for the contribution to the promotion of Polish art abroad (1998), Katarzyna Kobro (2004), the Art Award of the Quarterly “Exit” (2005) and the Golden Owl of the Polish Diaspora (Vienna, 2012). In 2011, he was awarded the Gold Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis. In December 2017, he received the Franco Cuomo International Award from the Italian Senate.