Wojciech Gilewicz was born in 1974 in Bilgoraj, Poland. He lives and works between New York and Warsaw. Trained as a painter he views painting as an activity and a process rather than a flat decorative object. Gilewicz is also a photographer. In 2009 the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw, Poland published Them – an artistic album of Gilewicz’ series of photographic double self-portraits, a project started in 2002, which continues to date. Wojciech Gilewicz is also an author of installations and videos. The artist also often performs himself in front of his video camera. In 2020 the book on Gilewicz' video works realized in Asia between 2008 and 2018 titled Visitor / Intrude will be jointly published by two Polish contemporary art institutions: the Galeria Labirynt in Lublin and Arsenal Gallery in Bialystok. Wojciech Gilewicz’s art provokes reflection on the mechanisms which govern perception and its cultural conditioning. The artist draws the viewer’s attention to what we see and what we commonly perceive as art and why. He takes on board issues related to the responsibilities of an artist in modern society as a citizen often asking questions on artistic production in the context of physical labor, ecology, and sustainability. He is also interested in the status of the artist and his work in the context of both the institution and the circulation of art. Gilewicz in his works actively collaborates with the viewer, whom he involves both in his projects and in polemics about myths and stereotypes concerning art, its reception, and interpretation.
