JANUSZ WALENTYNOWICZ
Producing artwork of an involving nature in a media with a strong (almost exclusive) history in the decorative arts can be a bit like throwing a rock in the water and expect it to float.
The concerns reflected in my work today are very much those inspiring me prior to 1978 when I first began to work with glass. My interest has always been focused on the intimate levels of human relations, the ever-challenged gender roles and the factors shaping our identities. Glass as a material reflects and underlines some of the strongest aspects of my concerns, such as the implied fragility, the visible weaknesses and flaws, the transparent exposure of the inner matter. Although mostly working with themes from personal experience, I seek to portray shared human experiences in a way, which allows the viewer to expand upon the facts I present with his or her own experience and memories. It is important to me that the beholder becomes personal with the work rather than trying to “read it”; remembering that, --In art -- as in life, two and two is seldom four.
