The entrance lobby displays the large, imposing canvasses of Jacek Rykala, the only living Polish artist whose works are on display at the National Museum in Krakow.  Hailing from Silesia, Rykala is known for his explorations of nostalgia and memory.  His paintings strike out into three dimensions, featuring reclaimed, original door number plates, planks from old gates, sepia photographs and even metalwork.  One of my favourites, to the left of the reception area, is thick with dark, brooding colours which then give way to glimpses of a golden-hued courtyard, hinting at a yearning for a previous life beyond the gate.  Rykala has been exhibiting internationally since the mid 1980s and his unusual collage paintings capture the emotions in unexpected ways.

Dotted around the hotel are fine examples of the work of sculptor Stanislaw Wysocki, who met and has been compared to the great Henry Moore. One of his major works adorns the beautiful medieval town square in Wroclaw.  Another can be found in Warsaw’s Old Town Square, outside the Zapiecek Gallery. Immediately to the right of the hotel entrance, you can see some of his smaller works, bold female figures hewn out of sumptuous bronze.

Up on the second floor, you’ll find exuberant, bright, almost psychedelic paintings by Piotr Turek, a graduate of the Lodz School of Art, who deals with themes of time and the synchronicity of parallel worlds. His use of colour gradations and contrasts is said to be inspired by French impressionist Pierre Bonnard. From a distance, the almost childlike colour palette may seem to border on kitsch, but the vibrancy of his paintings draws the viewer in for a closer look.

Displayed in the second floor conference room lobby area are a range of canvasses by Ryszard Pasikowski, a graduate of the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts.  These abstract works feature what appear to be pale urban landscapes set against intense an black background, such dramatic use of black bringing to mind the drama of a Caravaggio. Other works by the same artist, this time in fiery reds, can be found, appropriately, in the hotel’s first floor Mexican restaurant, ‘Frida’.

The drama and intensity of these artists is somewhat offset by the eerily still, abstract reflections by Anna Slawkowksa-Rode found on the third floor, away from the hustle and bustle downstairs.  Her works explore the dialogue between our inner self and nature. Her simple abstracts in hushed tones of brown, grey and green, offer a pleasant moment or two of quiet contemplation, despite being confronted with the colossus of the Palace of Culture bang opposite, on looking up and out through the clear glass walls.

All of the works in the exhibition, curated by Zapiecek Gallery, are currently on sale.

Address:
InterContinental Warszawa
49 Emilii Plater St