Paweł Ryżko: Format B

About:

An auteur exhibition of works by Paweł Ryżko, an artist well known to Gdynia audiences through his public art projects – a mural reimagining Gdynia’s coat of arms and a metallographic gate on Abrahama Street. In this show, Traffic Design presents Ryżko in multiple roles: as a designer and as an artist who sometimes invites viewers to decipher layered meanings and at other times boldly confronts them with the most urgent social issues. More often than not, he manages to do both simultaneously, combining visual play with social commentary.

The exhibition title, Format B refers to a specific set of proportions fundamental to poster design. This particular frame defines the boundaries of a graphic designer’s work. The constraint, which at first glance seems imperceptible, determines which graphic elements are key and which remain in the background. It not only determines the frame but also defines the composition and proportions of the elements within the poster.

The first layer is familiar and welcoming. However, it leaves you with a breadcrumb of an uncertainty that urges the curious to peel behind it. Behind this flat and harmonic composition of forms and color, a recognizable style of graphic design. It is within this language that Paweł chooses to embed profound significance and reflections on the world. One can find many coats of thought, critique, and emotional pondering on stories of mundanity and social interrelations – writes Alex Void. From posters and visual designs for music publications to graphics woven in the form of kilims. We invite you to experience a story told in Ryżko’s unmistakable.

Exhibition organizer: Traffic Design