EXHIBITION OF CONTEMPORARY POLISH-AMERICAN ARTISTS TO OPEN AT THE WILLIAMS TOWER GALLERY IN HOUSTON  Second Language, Works by Contemporary Polish-American Artists, and accompanying exhibition of Warsaw-based artist opens September 30. Public opening : Thursday, September 30, 6-8 PM; 8 PM level 2 auditorium, introduction of commemorative poster and book signing by New York artist, Rafal Olbinski Exhibition dates: September 30 - October 29, 2004 In conjunction with a celebration of the 150th anniversary of the first Polish settlement in America, the Williams Tower Gallery is pleased to present the first group exhibition of Polish-American artists to be held in the region. Second Language is curated by Sally Sprout, Sally Sprout Fine Art, and coordinated by Anya Tish, Anya Tish Gallery. This exhibition has been funded in part by the Houston Polish community and by Hines, underwriters of the Williams Tower Gallery.  Nine artists comprise the exhibition in the Tower’s East Gallery. Eight are Polish-born and live in New York, Seattle and Chicago, and one is a first generation Polish-American living in Santa Fe. An accompanying exhibition in the West Gallery features a War- saw-based artist. All are a testament to a “medium-sized, not very affluent country, which has been described as the basin that has supplied and still secures the world” with giants in the fine arts and many other disciplines. The majority of this group are mid-career artists who show internationally and have many honors and achievements to their credit, while two are still in the process of establishing their reputations. Some came to this country with degrees from respected Polish institutions, some have been educated in American schools. Several of them teach here and abroad.  Andrzej Kenda and Roman Kujawa are connected to the Polish minimalist tradition, as is American-born Daniel Gorski. Kujawa’s monochromatic mixed media forms go back and forth between the wall and the floor, and can be configured in various combinations. Known for painting as well as sculpture, Kenda shows pieces here that are geometric, crisply-executed polychromed objects. Former Houstonian and Director of the Glassell School of Art, Gorski makes shaped painted forms, also of wood, that are finely- crafted, always elegant and sometimes with a goofy humor. Janusz Kapusta has discovered a new geometrical shape which has inspired an ongoing body of work, and exhibits here a large grid on the wall of repeated small elements. Another discovery of new earlier unknown principles of the Golden Proportion has led him to the lecture circuit.  Anna Bialobroda and Warsaw-based Mikolaj Kasprzyk both paint people, but very differently. Bialobroda’s portraits have been described as critical representations of postmodern subjects. For over a decade she has used print media, television and film as the sources for her composite works. Kasprzyk paints figures engaged in common, everyday activities. Though contemporary in composition, a story-telling quality combined with fresco-like surfaces in muted colors give his work an archaic and mysterious appeal. Jerzy Kubina and Kinga Czerska each work in various mediums, Kubina with painting, performance and installation, and Czerska, painting and drawing, ceramics and design. In this exhibition Kubina shows large-scale abstract paintings on silk that range from luminous color field to darker and more associative pieces. Czerska’s abstract panels are densely-layered, precisely-crafted, moving the eye in an optical-linear play. Her drawings are quirky, colorful and richly patterned.  Ewa Harabasz and Gosia Koscielak complete the lineup. Koscielak, a Fulbright Scholar, has curated numerous international exhibitions. Her art is strongly influenced by Polish minimal and conceptual traditions. She works in a variety of mediums including multi- media installations, paintings and digital graphics. Before coming to the United States Ewa Harabasz studied art and worked as a restorer of wall mosaics and icons in Poland and Italy. Working both on the wall and three-dimensionally, Ewa’s work grapples with the timeless questions of internal tragedy, external drama and spiritual yearning, while remaining in touch with the irony and humor of the contemporary condition
	Exhibition on view through Friday, October 29. Gallery hours: Monday – Friday, 8 AM to 6 PM and by appointment.