Stanislaw BAJ (b. 1953), Mother, 2006-2014

oil, canvas; 81.5 x 65 cm;
Signed l. d.: S.Baj;
On the back, author's description: Stanislaw Baj / "Mother'' / Sketch 2006 / Final 2014.
An extremely poignant, even naturalistic portrait of the artist's mother, belonging to a series of works that go beyond the canon for which Stanisław Baj's work is widely known.
"How to tell about something that is closing? Or about someone? Toward the end, my mother was a bit in her own world, I had to do something, being alone with my mother in such circumstances. So I painted her, because what more could I give her. So much. That's why I was drawing, too. How I cared or how I visited. I was making this kind of my diary [...]." Stanislaw Baj
Stanisław Baj studied painting from 1972-1978 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, under Professors Michał Bylina, Jacek Siennicki and Ludwik Maciąg. He received his diploma with distinction in Prof. Ludwik Maciąg's studio in 1978. He is currently a professor at the Faculty of Painting of his alma mater and runs a graduation studio of painting for students from 2nd to 5th year. Author of more than 90 solo exhibitions at home and abroad. He has participated in more than 100 group exhibitions. The artist's works are in the collections of Polish museums and in collections at home and abroad. The artist mainly exhibits painting and drawing. Initially, he painted genre scenes inspired by village life and nature. Since the 1980s, his work has been landscape, mainly the Bug River, and portrait painting. The paintings have universal yet symbolic qualities, especially the numerous portraits of the artist's mother and the bends of the wild Bug River, painted directly from nature, ranging from realistic to abstract.