Theo Wujcik

Art Brokerage: Theo Wujcik American Artist: b. 1936-2014. Theo Wujcik was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. As a child, Theo was constantly drawing. Wujcik went on to study at the College for Creative Studies (CSS) in Detroit, under the modernist Sarkis Sarkisian. He spent a summer training with Bob Blackburn the art of lithography at the Creative Graphic Workshop in New York City. He read profusely and continuously studied on his own. Wujcik went on to teach at the CSS prior to postgraduate work at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, and with funding from a grant thru the Ford Foundation, he went on to train as a master printer at Tamarind Lithography Workshop in Albuquerque, and in Los Angeles, where he printed for artists such as John Altoon, Ed Moses, Billy Al Bengston, and Ed Ruscha. At Gemini G.E.L., Wujcik printed for Jasper Johns. In 1970, Wujcik moved to Tampa, Florida, to become director of Graphicstudio at the University of South Florida. There, he developed lifelong friendships and collaborations with Ed Ruscha, James Rosenquist, Richard Anuszkiewicz, and Larry Bell, among others. In 1979, his artistic focus shifted from drawing and printmaking to painting and mixed media. Wujcik's chain-link fence motif became a structural device as well as a visual language used to communicate multiple meaning. This motif provided a way of layering paint, story lines, and fragments of memories and ideas. It gave him a tool to explore themes and compositions from great art historical figures with a definitive style of his own. His use of collage or fragmentation, as vehicles to address contemporary sociopolitical and environmental issues. From 2000, Wujcik articulated more sociopolitical themes in his work, in addition to personal narratives. These subjects gave him an avenue to more deeply pursue his skills and maturity as a painter. Once again, he turned to the streets and dumpsters of Ybor City for subject matter, and found storylines and impulses emanating from discarded debris. His work has often been categorized as Pop, yet, his own brand of Pop, while at times playful and unexpected, was rarely ironic or cynical, departing from the traditional interpretation of the term. Listings wanted.