Dream

Ryszard Szymański (1955– ) graduated in printmaking from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. His artistic career began with international success: in 1984, a work he exhibited at the Bankside Gallery in London was awarded First Prize by the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers. His artistic role models include Francisco Goya (1746–1828), Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), and the sixteenth-century Kleinmasters – a group of German engravers and woodcutters such as Heinrich Aldegrever (1502–1538) and Georg Pencz (c. 1500–1550), who followed in Dürer's footsteps. These artists were known for small-format prints depicting mythological, religious or socio-political themes. In the catalogue for his solo exhibition at Galeria 111 in Szczecin (2016), Szymański wrote: ‘All of them were, and still are, a great inspiration to me. The way they created their works is a masterclass in graphic technique and artistic vision. Every square millimetre in their compositions is necessary, an essential part of the whole. There is no room for accident or spontaneous gesture in their art.’ The small print *Dream* from 1986 is a strikingly meticulous and skilful visualisation of a dream about a falling bird, scattered feathers, and an uncertain fate. In dream symbolism, falling often suggests helplessness, solitude or disappointment, and can express a loss of faith in ideals. Szymański's metaphorical and symbolic language in this work once again seems to merge personal emotional states with a subtle commentary on the world around him. Marlena Chybowska-Butler