mural “Paweł Adamowicz”

Material/Technique: acrylic paints, exterior

Dimensions: 8 x 15 m

Object:

The mural commemorating the Mayor of Gdańsk, Paweł Adamowicz, was created on the initiative of the painter, architect and opposition activist Jarosław Malicki on the gable wall of a building on Mniszki Street.

The artist portrayed Paweł Adamowicz’s smiling face with glasses and his distinctive beard. The composition designed by Malicki was painted in subdued colours: grey dominates, with delicate brick red also appearing. The colour palette was chosen to ensure that the mural blends in well with its surroundings: the brick block of the Church of St. Bridget and the 19^th and 20^th-century tenement houses. The subtle colours and soft facial modelling achieved with the brush give the effect of naturalness and capturing a fleeting moment. The expressiveness is enhanced by an unbuttoned shirt painted as if paint were running down the surface of the wall. At the bottom of the composition, on the right-hand side, is the inscription DLA GDAŃSKA (“For Gdańsk”), rendered in red with a typeface reminiscent of the famous “Solidarity” logotype by Jerzy Janiszewski.

Mayor of Gdańsk Paweł Adamowicz (1965-2019) was fatally wounded with a knife on 13 January 2019 during the finale of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity at the Targ Węglowy. He died the following day as a result of his wounds. He had been Mayor of Gdańsk since 1998. On the day of the work’s unveiling, the Paweł Adamowicz Gdańsk Equality Award was presented, awarded by the Mayor of Gdańsk.

Place:

The location of the mural has a strong connection to the figure of the late mayor. The work was created in the vicinity of his family home, as well as in the proximity of sites important for Gdańsk: the Church of St. Bridget and the Gyddanyzc square.

Note about the author:

Jarosław (Jarek) Malicki (b. 1966), painter, architect and stage designer, graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań, Faculty of Painting. He also graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology and from conservation studies at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. Opposition and social activist. He lives and works in Warsaw.

Condition of the object:  very good

Owner/guardian: Gdańsk Road and Greenery Authority

Author of the entry: Kinga Jarocka