Maciej Deja

Maciej was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1960. He received his degree from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw in 1987. While working primarily as a painter, he continues to make time for printmaking. He has had solo exhibits throughout Europe, and been in group exhibitions around the world. 

The human being – monumental and primeval – is the subject of Maciej Deja’s art. "(Man) without the additional literature, houses, landscapes, needless equipment" says the artist. In his mezzotints, the human body, muscular and athletic emerges from the black background. Strong men cower in a fetal position, kneel or fall asleep like vulnerable children. "My prints are stories told without time or place. The characters have no clothes or hair. This makes the pose, in which they freeze, more striking."

The muscular characters of Deja’s prints resurface in Deja’s paintings where they become even more expressive. The muscles acquire some colour – reds and browns. For his mezzotints he uses scrapers and burnishers to create the image. The purpose of the procedure is to reduce the depth of the burrs. “In the beginning I used the burnisher, but for some time now I work only with the scraper. The difference between those two tools is that the burnisher flattens and polishes the ground but the scraper shaves and doesn't change the structure of the button. The scraper is quite difficult to master but, once you learn to use it, it gives marvelous performance. “                                  

Individual Exhibitions

2006        Fundacja Sue Ryder Warsaw
1997        Galeria Prezydenta, Warsaw.
1995        "Espace Degré" Luxembourg
1995        Rathaus Neu Wulmstorf, Germany
1993        "Galleri Majnabbe" Goteborg, Sweden
1991        "Test" Gallery, Warsaw.
1990        Galerie Glowacki, Kempen, Germany.
1988        "Debut" PN Gallery, Warsaw.

Collections

Panstwowego Muzeum na Majdanku, Lublin, Poland
Tama Art University Museum, Tokyo
Stolecznego Biura Wystaw Artystycznych
Fogg Museum of Art, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Laureat nagród w Konkursie, "Grafika Warszawska"  Latach 1995-97.