Tomasz Knapik

Slow motion

Medium : intaglio

Buoyancy

Medium : intaglio

Cave

Medium : intaglio

Gut

Medium : intaglio

Identity

Medium : Etching

Pyrolysis II

Medium : intaglio

Statement

Traditional printmaking with its strict technical rules and limitations challenges my creativity to develop my personal range of visual expression. My approach to this medium is expressive, experimental and process-based rather than focusing on the overall outcome.

I often inspect artworks as a whole and up close as though through a magnifying glass. My curiosity about micro and macrocosm has somehow led me to delve into the very surface of the plate, investigating closely how variations in texture and line hold and release the black ink within its cracks and pores. For me, the interplay of tonal range, gradation, light and shadow carry a lot more charge and emotion than the colour itself, hence the absence of it in my work.

Living in an era of fast-paced mechanical reproduction, easily manipulated digital images, and instant outcomes, has somehow disrupted my rhythm of creation, which has left me with little space for digestion, or time to process. I was driven as a creative to construct this printmaking enclave where I can reflect, embrace, and develop connection with this medium. I’m attracted by the mysterious quality of intaglio printing and its inverted image which interferes with seeing when creating the artwork. Thus I am guided by my intuition and my expectations are suspended until the image emerges during the final act of printing. This final discovery can be met with delayed gratification or disappointment. As I have confined my practice to subtractive methods of intaglio, every physical intervention on the plate leaves a permanent mark. The mark is often irreversible and therefore the final impression is doomed from its impact.

Biography

Tomasz Knapik is a visual artist from Wroclaw, Poland where he studied printmaking and graphic design at Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design. He now lives and works in Dublin where he continues his art practice at Black Church Print Studio and Richmond Road Studios. His work has been exhibited internationally in China, Czech Republic, Poland, Romania,
Taiwan, UK and USA.

Black Church Editions (Dublin, Ireland, 2020)
Small Format, International Mini Print Exhibition (Dublin, Ireland, 2017)
8th International Print Biennial (Douro, Portugal, 2016)
RHA 186th Annual Exhibition (Dublin, Ireland, 2016)
Halftone (Dublin, Ireland, 2015)
18th International Print Biennial (Varna, Bulgaria, 2015)
2nd Global Print (Portugal, Douro, 2015)
RHA 184th Annual Exhibition ( Dublin, Ireland 2014 )
International Print Biennial 2014 ROC (Taichung, Taiwan, 2014)
Proof It (Dublin, Ireland, 2013)
20:20 Hot Bed Press,print exchange (Salford, UK, 2012)
Tribuna Graphic (Cluj, Romania, 2012)
Greenacres Art Gallery (Wexford, Ireland 2012)
Boxid Round II & III (Dublin, Ireland, 2010, 2011)
From Dublin to LA (California, USA, 2010)
He Wants Revenge (Dublin, Ireland, 2010)
de Light box (Dublin, Ireland, 2009)
Symmetry (Dublin, Ireland, 2009)
5th Internațional Mini Print Biennial (Cluj Napoca, Romania, 2005)
Grafika Warsztatowa ASP we Wrocławiu (Jablonec, Czech Republic, 2005)
Museum of Papermaking in Duszniki-Zdrój (Duszniki-Zdrój, Poland, 2004, 2005)
International Festival of Graphic Arts(Cluj Napoca, Romania, 2003)
5th International Competition of Exlibris (Gliwice, Poland, 2003)
International Print Biennial of Beijing (Beijing, China, 2003)