Ashkenaz Festival and the Al Green Gallery present
I Am From Here: The Paintings of
Maciej Frankiewicz
Exhibit and Sale
Al Green Gallery, 64 Merton St. (Yonge/Davisville)
www.thealgreengallery.com www.ashkenazfestival.com
The Polish-Jewish Heritage Foundation of Canada
and the
Wierzbniker Society
invite
the Members, Friends and Supporters of our two organisations to the
Special Closed Reception
on Wednesday, June 23rd, 6-8 pm,
with Official Remarks starting at 7 pm.
Opening Reception for the General Public:
Thursday, June 24th, 6-8 pm
Exhibition continues through July 8th, 2010.
Maciej Frankiewicz was born in 1968 in Starachowice, Poland, previously known as Wierzbnik to its once-sizable Jewish population. Frankiewicz has devoted much of his adult life to preserving the memory of a world and a people he never knew. He has worked in collaboration with North American and Israeli-based organizations of Jewish landslayt (former townspeople) from Wierzbnik/Starachowice, to restore and preserve the remains of the Wierzbnik Jewish cemetery and establish the "Memorial Room of the Wierzbnik Jews" in the Starachowice cultural centre.
As a prolific painter Maciej Frankiewicz has produced hundreds of works depicting his vision of former Jewish life in Wierzbnik. These striking works are by turns surreal, provocative, and romantic, inhabiting an amorphous realm somewhere between "slice of life" documentary and nostalgic fantasy. In his various capacities as artist, historian, researcher, collector, and activist, Frankiewicz signals hope for the continuing preservation of the memory of the lost Jewish worlds of Poland, by those who grapple with the legacy of the Holocaust on their own soil.
viewing hours:
Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays 12-5pm; Thursdays 12-7pm;
Closed Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. For more info phone the Al Green Gallery at 416-440-3084 or Ashkenaz at 416-979-9901.
