2042 Rafal Zygmunt Strent

Description

RAFAL ZYGMUNT STRENT
Poland | Artist

Born in 1943 in Łuck, Volhynia. In 1972 he graduated from the Faculty of Painting of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw in the studio of prof. Aleksander Kobzdej; annex in artistic graphics with prof. Halina Chrostowska. Until 1990, chairman of Solidarity, dean of the Faculty of Graphic Arts for two terms (until retirement, full professor at his alma mater, currently employed at the University of Information Technology and Management in Warsaw, under the auspices of the Polish Academy of Sciences). Former chairman of the Art Section of the Central Committee for Degrees and Titles, expert of the Polish Accreditation Committee, vice-chairman of the Council of Higher Artistic Education, former member of the Prime Minister’s Award Committee, former member of the jury of the C. K. Norwid Award, co-founder of the Warsaw Graphics competition, former member and expert of the State Accreditation Committee , Vice-President of the Polish Section of AIAP, accredited by UNESCO, etc.

Teaching experience outside Warsaw: Poznań, Brighton (UK), Milwaukee (USA), Herford and Trier (Germany), Częstochowa. Participant of hundreds of competition courts in the country and abroad – most recently at the turn of November and December 2016 at the 17th Asian Art Biennale in Dhaka (Bangladesh).

Author of over 70 individual exhibitions of painting, graphics and drawing in the country and abroad, participant in about 300 group exhibitions, winner of awards and artistic distinctions, e.g. in Luxembourg (Musee 2000), International Print Biennale in Sofia, International Print Biennale in Vienna, International Grand Prix of Contemporary Art in Monte Carlo, awards for creative activity of the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Poland, etc.

He started his education with electronics. He worked in a brickyard, on a construction site and at a gardener’s. He produced radios for tanks and radar devices, repaired electric locomotives and television sets, played in a jazz band and illuminated the stage at the Dramatic Theater in Warsaw. He took a tortuous route to a play where he felt at home. Painting, graphics and drawing are enough to express the “cosmos quivering with lights” (Gombrowicz – Dzienniki). On the advice of Prof. Halina Chrostowska carefully recorded all successes, participation in competitions, exhibitions, organizational activities in ZPAP, etc. Here is a very short list of places where he showed his works: Dzierżoniów, Warsaw, Tunis, Ursus, Łódź, Copenhagen, Nevres, Milan, Luanda, Maputo, Epinal, Kraków, Barcelona, Pamplona, Sofia, Prague, Clermont-Ferrand, Almaty, Sopot, Pecs, Toruń, Kecskemeth, Blois, Grasse, Madrid, Poznań, Toruń, Kiel, Gdańsk, Szczecin, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Wrocław, Buenos Aires Aires, Ulaanbaatar, Słupsk, Nakskov, Stockholm, Turku, Monte Carlo, Berlin, Cieszyn, Ankara, Istanbul, Norrkoeping, Duesseldorf, London, Sopot, Szczecin, Caracas, Hamburg, Edmonton, Radom, Monte Carlo, Lisbon, Porto, Paris , New York, Evora, Kalisz, Cairo, Alger, The Hague, Koszalin, Chiba, Nara, Fukuoka, Okinawa, Havana, Stockholm, Olsztyn, Przemyśl – etc. until the end of 1981, when it was better not to record your involvements

Received awards and distinctions:

1987, 1993, 1995, 1996, 2002 – Rector’s Award of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw
2003 – Award of the Ministry of National Education and Sport
2003 – Individual award of the Minister of Culture for outstanding artistic and didactic achievements
2004 – Gold Cross of Merit of the Republic of Poland
2004 – Honorary Diploma of the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Bulgaria for the popularization of Bulgarian Culture
2005 – Badge “Distinguished Culture Activist” of the Ministry of Culture
2005 – Centenary Medal of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw
2010 – Award of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage for activities for the benefit of art schools
2012 – Individual award of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education for organizational achievements
2013 – Silver Medal “For Merit to Culture Gloria Artis”