Ryszard WINIARSKI (1936 - 2006), Coincidence in a game for three, 1984

acrylic, panel; 65 x 65 cm;
signed, dated and inscribed at bottom: chance in game for three winiarski 84.
signed, dated and described on the reverse: chance / in game / for three / winiarski 84.

Provenance:
collection of Piotr Nowicki

Image exhibited:
The art of balance: between geometry and variation, BWA Gallery of Contemporary Art, Katowice, 7.02-9.03.2025.

Ryszard Winiarski has been building his own consistent visual language since the mid-1960s, based, among other things, on arrangements of black and white fields generated according to preconceived rules of a game, a draw or a mathematical algorithm.

The title of the painting, "Chance in game for three / Chance in game for three," refers directly to the artist's key notion of game and randomness. Winiarski has repeatedly stressed that his role was not to traditionally "paint a picture," but to create a system of rules according to which the work is created. The very process of drawing lots and organizing the space of the painting became an equal part of the composition.

The offered work from 1984 represents the mature stage of the artist's work. The arrangement of square fields, the arrangement of which corresponds to the principle of controlled chance, is part of the fundamental idea present in the painter's work from the beginning. The characteristic arrangement of black and white modules builds a dynamic structure resembling a record of data, the rhythm of a mathematical code.

Ryszard Winiarski's works from the 1980s can be found in museum collections, including the Museum of Art in Lodz, the National Museum in Warsaw and the Center for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle. His works are one of the most recognizable phenomena of the Polish avant-garde of the second half of the 20th century.