Continuity in Process. Janusz Osicki

Katarzyna Gec-Leśniak

Gdynia City Museum
28.03.2026 – 31.05.2026
Vernissage: 27.03.2026, 18:00

This is the first monographic exhibition of Janusz Osicki, an artist from Gdynia, which tells a story of art as a daily work and a life path. Its concept is based on a dialogue – the curator’s interview with the protagonist of the show – who reveals his past works, forgotten stories and the areas of his oeuvre which have not yet been presented. It is a narrative about consistence, persistence and an internal, unbridled need to create.

The photograph comes from Janusz Osicki’s private archive.

The title Continuity in Process is not just a metaphor – it reflects the actual rhythm in which the artist functions: he has been creating art every day for more than fifty years. ‘I keep painting one painting’ – in this sentence, he grasped the essence of his own oeuvre. Rather than what he paints, it is much more important how he does it. Janusz Osicki gives structure to his works in an almost sculptural way; he composes architectural patterns from patches of colour and engraves symbolic, relief-like labyrinths in the thick matter. As he adds: ‘When painting one painting, I already think about another, in which I shall use certain textural effects, thus devoting a separate canvas for them’.

The exhibition is divided into a part devoted to the painter’s silhouette – his search for his life path, torn between painting and music, activity in the field of graphic arts and design – and the main part presenting his painting. The viewer is walked through the most important motifs of the artist’s output: from paintings in dim, dark tones and compositions broken with intense colour to pure, whitened works constructed with a thick layer of the painting matter. The artist’s works often balance between figuration and suggestion of form, between the recognisable and intuitively sensed. However, it is structure which plays the most significant role – its almost ‘architectural construction’.

The exhibition displays several dozen large-format oil paintings and small canvases, as well as archival materials devoted to the artist himself. It also makes it possible for the viewers to symbolically peek inside his studio – a place, in which image, light and sound intertwine to make a cohesive whole recorded in the form of videoart.

Janusz Osicki (b. 1949 in Gdynia) is a painter, graduate of the State Higher School of Plastic Arts in Gdańsk, a long-term lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture, Gdańsk University of Technology. He combined artistic activity with educational work for several decades, teaching subsequent generations of students. The artist had several dozen solo exhibitions and participated in numerous collective shows. He is also a laureate of many awards, including the Gdyński Galion cultural prize, which he received for his entire oeuvre in 2025.

The works displayed at our exhibition belong to the artist – Janusz Osicki; if they come from other institutions or private collections, this is specified in the captions.

Curator
Katarzyna Gec-Leśniak