Jurek Wajdowicz (born April 26, 1951, Cracow) is a Polish-born American artist, graphic designer, fine art contemporary photographer and art director. He lives and works in New York City.
In his graphic design practice Wajdowicz has concentrated on images of poverty, famine and social justice. Separately, in his semi-abstract photography he creates a more tranquil, contemplative, poetic painterly images. [1] From 2009, Wajdowicz has focused on fine art abstract photography resulting in several ongoing thematic series. His book, Liminal Spaces was published in 2013. [2] In 2018 Wajdowicz's 67/11 photo-book was published. His work was represented at the Kasia Michalski Gallery in Warsaw, Poland 2015, the Vienna contemporary art fair in Vienna, Austria 2015, [3] Nailya Alexander Gallery in New York in 2016, at the Book Art Museum exhibition in Lodz, Poland 2018, at New York's EWS-Gallery in 2020, at the Nailya Alexander Gallery in New York in 2021, and at the AIPAD Photography Show, New York in 2023. Wajdowicz was selected as one of the "Most Influential Graphic Designers of the Past 50 Years" in the 50th Anniversary Survey of Graphic Design: USA magazine. [4]
Wajdowicz began his career as an artist in Lodz, Poland, where he graduated summa cum laude with a master's degree in graphic design from the Lodz Academy of Fine Arts. After working on design projects for theaters and museums in Lodz, Warsaw and England (Pentagram, London), he went to the United States as an art director at Lubalin, Burns & Company in New York before co-founding Emerson, Wajdowicz Studios (EWS) with Lisa LaRochelle in 1982. [5] EWS' partners and clients include international humanitarian organizations and non-profit institutions active in social change. [6] [7] From the 1990s to the present Wajdowicz and EWS created projects for the Rockefeller Foundation, Domtar, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the Arcus Foundation, International Rescue Committee, Magnum Photos, Freedom House and the United Nations, working with photographers such as Eugene Richards, Sebastião Salgado, Steve McCurry, Antonin Kratochvil, Deborah Turbeville, Philip Jones Griffiths, Richard Avedon, Elliott Erwitt, Jonas Bendiksen, James Nachtwey, Alex Webb and Gueorgui Pinkhassov. [8] From 2013 Jurek Wajdowicz became the art director, curator and also a contributing photographer of the international LGBT-themed, photography books, a concept co-created by Jon Stryker and Wajdowicz. The ongoing series is published by The New Press including photojournalists Kike Arnal, Delphine Diallo, Misha Friedman, Sunil Gupta, Lola Flash, Steve McCurry, Maciek Nabrdalik, Jenny Papalexandris and Charan Singh.
Wajdowicz's art photography and design work is held in the following permanent collections:
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