Krzysztof Zarębski

He was born in 1939 in Warsaw, from 1981 he has been living and working in New York.

During the years 1962-1968 he studied at the Faculty of Painting and Graphics of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, in the studios of professor Jan Wodyński and professor Stefan Gierowski. In 1968 he received a diploma with distinction.

Krzysztof Zarębski deals with topics related to passing, memory and eroticism in his works. After graduation, he painted compositions with saturated colors, belonging to the new figuration. In the early seventies the artist became interested in artistic actions - the art of performance and happening. He became one of the first artists in this trend in Poland. Zarębski's first action of this type was "Flowers", presented at the Women's League Club in Warsaw. The artist used props, everyday objects, ice, and organic elements in his activities. He also treated the body similarly, his own body, bodies of performers or spectators of performances. In 1972, Zarębski created the concept of "spheres of contact", which became crucial for his later actions. Spheres of contact are a subtle type of communication that is imperceptible to the human eye. They compose of the touch of an object that has been held previously in the hand of another person.

In 1975, the artist began working with Helmut Kajzar, a theater director and playwright, which lasted until 1981 and was extremely important for Zarębski's work. The first joint activity was working on the staging of Kajzar's "Knight Andrzej" at the Studio Theater in Warsaw. Both artists also acted as part of the meta-everyday theater, the concept of which Kajzar was the creator of, going beyond the stage, creating street actions. In the show "+++" ("Three Crosses"), prepared in 1977, Zarębski made two independent works in the foyer of the Wrocław Contemporary Theater. After Kajzar's death in 1982, Zarębski referred to collaboration and friendship with him in his performances, recalling the director with his voice recorded on tape.

In 1981, Zarębski left for the United States, where he lives and works until today. During this time, his work evolved from mainly ephemeral activities to a greater interest in matter. Objects or their parts constituted the material of his installations and sculptures, mounted or twisted with screws, wires, string. As in previous projects, he also uses them in his actions, then restores them to the status of objects. A frequent item that the artist used from the very beginning was a cassette tape and a vinyl record ("Freezing the Sound" and "Dialog" from 1974, "Guitar" from 1988, "Instrument" from 1992, "Messages 2" from 1995 ). Objects often were embedded in plexiglass. In 1983, Zarębski met with the artists who later formed The Rivington School group. They met at the No Se No club, and then at the gallery of the same name that was established there. It was the place where Zarębski showed, among other things, ice sculptures. After the gallery was closed, the Rivington Sculpture Garden was left. It was an area where the artists created a gigantic installation made of urban waste, where also Zarębski's works are located.

At the end of the 1980s, Zarębski returned to work on theatrical scenery, collaborating with Kazimierz Braun on Tadeusz Różewicz's play "Natural Growth". One of the elements of the art was the "living gallery" in which the artist gathered objects and sculptures embedded in the gradually melting ice.

From the beginning, sound and music was important part of Zarębski's oeuvre. Sonic elements appeared in direct or indirect form. For example the aforementioned tapes and discs appear in almost every artist's activity. It is also evident in his later actions, in which he plays the role of a DJ (including performances: "DJ Cool Freeze" from 2003, "DJ Cool Swamp" from 2004, "DJ Sweet & Sour" from 2008). The artist has also collaborated with musicians, including John King, and composers, such as Krzysztof Knittel.