So far the public has known nothing of Grzegorz Drozd the painter. Although in 2007 he graduated from the Faculty of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, during his studies he mainly carried out multimedia projects. By means of his works he established a critical dialogue with the current system of artistic exchange and the methods of representation that are considered obvious. Painting was a rare choice but if it appeared in his art, it was used as one of many elements contributing to the whole history of art which receives criticism rather than as a transparent medium of artistic representation of reality. The example of a project going beyond painting was Drozd's diploma work Anonymous Letter (2007) consisting of paintings representing letters cut out from newspapers. They formulated the text blackmailing the professors who had to evaluate his graduation work - if the work didn't get a first-class Honours Degree, the author was going to reveal something they had done. Drozd's paintings were both objects and tools to criticize the institution of artistic education. On one hand, it proved the artist's radical attitude towards the system with its limitations which could effectively put someone off painting. On the other hand, it revealed the artist’s paradoxical attachment to this traditional technique.

In fact, painting canvasses is parallel to Drozd's other artistic actions. Drozd, similarly to the artists who made their debut in the mid-90’s, hasn't abandoned the traditional medium just because it had become the domain of conservative artists. Let me mention the members of Grupa Ładnie who stayed faithful to painting, and from the perspective of the 70's generation have influenced the Polish painting. It seems that if Grzegorz Drozd gave up, he would question his attitude of a consistent deconstructionist of the current methods of representation and of the artist escaping all limitations, even those he might impose on himself. The metaphoric Old and New Measure (…) seems to be the artwork which summerizes and comes to terms with such an attitude.

Grzegorz Drozd's painting is a powerful voice of the artist who works in many areas of art without any complexes. He resembles the trans-avantguardists who would resign from the involvement in rational conceptual art in favour of the art based on intuition and traditional ways of representation. It didn’t mean, however, that they lost their sensitivity to various social problems. Grzegorz Drozd's declaration isn't yet a dramatic choice nor it entails being in favour of a particular concept of art. He is definitely far from writing painting manifestos. It shouldn't be surprising then if in the future he just stops painting pictures and takes up a different activity.

In the case of Drozd diversity in style and content is not at all a disadvantage. So far his paintings have been related to the passing canons of history, both the general, universal ones and the individual, private ones, including history of art. His works point to quite clear historical references, for instance, some nostalgia for the reality of the Polish People’s Republic. Some paintings make us suppose that to Grzegorz Drozd painting is a stage of private narrations about his childhood, adolescence, maturity as well as death felt somewhere in the air. This tendency can be seen in nearly realist pictures as if inspired by old photographs. They show the Żuk van covered with snow (Żuk, 2007), voluntary blood donors helped by nurses in a squalid hospital (Taking Blood Samples, 2006), a cool provincial orchestra in uniforms (Orchestra, 2006), a figure against the sun entering the railway station stairs (Railway Station, 2006), and a tired community policeman climbing up the stairs of his house (The Community Policeman Returning Home, 2009).

As I mentioned before, Drozd isn't attached to one stylistics only. The recent paintings show the surrealist inclination. This is the way to reveal the internal structure of represented plots, their simulacric character, which is also typical of the painting matter in his works. This is how I perceive this year's paintings the artist intentionally left untitled. In one of them a skeleton accompanies a wild cat lying on the colourful branch (Untitled, 2009), and another shows the Multiplied Self-Portrait of Alina Szapocznikow set in a thorny grove (Untitled, 2009). At times Drozd happens to fall into unorthodox abstraction. He paints cloudy patches of colour – the group of merry children lost in the vast area - the action progresses and follows the brave and skillful brush stroke (Postcard, 2009). He's much closer to reality while showing a mysterious operation by means of two exploding red stains (Operation, 2009) or plays with concrete poetry on the basis of a written application - a composition of horizontal black patches against the white background (Application, 2009).

Grzegorz Drozd's painting might be treated as the space for experiments, in which the artist struggles with the matter just apparently unattractive and reserved for academics. It seems that his art is an attempt to regain the media and meanings used by one prevailing discourse. Moreover, intentional diversity encoded in his works seems to function as effective protection against affected stylistics. However, his painting isn't a laboratory cut off from the world, where the action takes place beyond time and reality. Drozd is perfectly aware of the fact that it's a real space, an integral element of the world, and his decisions concerning the canvas, though apparently innocent, may be influential.