Igor Dobrowolski was born in 1987 in Jelenia Góra, Poland, and the young artist only started painting in 2014. However, his work has already been seen across Europe thanks to his incredible talent and innovative approach to raising awareness of social and political issues. Now could be the perfect time to invest in Igor Dobrowolski as his star rises throughout the contemporary art world.
Maddox Gallery is delighted to represent the emerging artist in the UK, and we invite any individuals looking to buy Igor Dobrowolski art to our central London galleries, where our expert Sotheby’s-trained art consultants can tell you more about his incredible works.
Igor Dobrowolski art has been shown in solo exhibitions in Warsaw, Wroclaw and Berlin, and featured in Rzeszow art fair 2017. However, the artist has gained the most notoriety by far from two street art campaigns in two different countries, with one common thread – contrasting Western consumerism with suffering elsewhere.
His street art campaign ‘Consume’’ covered the streets of Warsaw, and went viral online. Billboards showed the tragedy involved in fast fashion, specifically the collapse of Bangladesh factory Rana Plaza which resulted in the death of over 1,000 workers. Images of dead workers are collaged and juxtaposed against branded adverts.
Another billboard campaign was produced in Berlin during the festive period. Titled ‘Christmas in Yemen,’ images again contrasted Western consumerism with scenes of war and poverty abroad. The ongoing conflict in Yemen is largely forgotten in the media, yet according to charity UNICEF, one child dies every ten minutes and at least 4,600 civilians have been killed. Igor hopes the pictures will “induce empathy in ordinary people.”
“I just want to show true stories…to express appreciation of life, sometimes a lack of sense in life, how time passes so quickly.”
“I just want to give a voice to the voiceless. Because for many, the world is a merciless thing just because they were born in a bad time and place.”
While his best known works are currently found on the streets of Berlin and Warsaw, here at Maddox Gallery, visitors can invest in Igor Dobrowolski art to display on the walls of their home.
These large scale monotone pieces feature arresting contrasts of photorealistic portraiture and more fantastical landscape imagery. Delicate shading is contrasted to messages scratched into the canvas or board, adding narration to the anonymous figures and giving his subjects a voice.
In regards to artistic influences, Igor Dobrowolski shares many names from the contemporary art scene, including Banksy, Kidult, Wermibus, The Kid and the Chapman Brothers. He also draws inspiration from more classical artists such as MC Escher, Salvador Dali and Rodin.
“There are many topics that I try to move in my work – or maybe the topics move me – such as death, depression, war, problems of the poor and homeless, addiction, narcissism, lack of empathy”
“I feel however that the binding agent of all these problems or stories is suffering, particles of hope, and an attempted reminder that life can be terribly cruel, thereby showing that ‘our’ problems are not great, virtually non-existent in comparison to the aforementioned tragedy.”
“It is very important for me to include in all of my works the particle of hope, because I believe it’s going to be ‘better’ even after the greatest tragedies, perhaps for life or maybe death.”
“I do not deceive myself with the salvation of the world, but maybe my work and the work of others, not necessarily in the art world, will help to fix something.”
