www.cygan.art.pl

I belong to the generation of artists whose professional activity began in the 80s. It was a difficult time for Poland. The martial law resulted in a number of unfavorable consequences for the Polish culture, among others the suspension of the official exhibition schemes. Multiple limitations to personal mobility confined artists to their studios. Circumstances were created when fundamental questions had to be asked, including those about the very choice of the artists' path.

I have given up using the loom for the sake of the frame. I don't want to feel restrained. I invent and construct simple devices which let me use my warp freely. The warp and the weft should have equal importance in creating textile.

My work has been for me a continuous attempt to establish or discover the already existing meanings of woven objects. I investigate their inner orders, tracing their mutual relations, tension values, various degrees of satiation with their own energy and power of appeal. My purpose is not to tell stories, preach or summon, I wish neither to fight nor interfere. I would not like to bother anyone with trivial matters. My most frequent approach is that of creating new conditions of tranquility, an insight deep into oneself, a confirmation of one's own self, one's own identity. I challenge the viewer with some basic questions (without necessarily answering them), concerning the matters of daily living and death. I would like my textiles to be both austere and light. I would like them to express what is hard to express in words, the purpose of their existence in the world of other objects of conscious creation justified by the means applied in their making."

Wlodzimierz Cygan, an artist, professor at the Fine Arts Academy in Gdansk, editor and publisher of the Text i Textile – Sztuka Wlokna magazine.