Artist:Swierzy
Title:King Oliver
Image Size:24" x 33"
Edition:Artist Hand Signed and Numbered Limited Edition to 500 + artist proofs
Medium:Lithograph
About the Artist:One of the most prolific artists of his generation, Waldemar Swierzy’s innovative—and often controversial—artwork has captured the world’s attention and cast him at the center of an exciting, evolving graphic arts movement that began in Europe and spread across the globe over the last fifty years.

Swierzy graduated from the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts in the early 1950s, and his early work was created for cultural and public events—film, theatre, circuses and music performances. Promoters demanded eye-catching designs for advertisements, and Swierzy’s bold, vibrant style earned him an international reputation. His awards included the Grand Prix Tolouse-Lautrec, Paris (1959); Hollywood Reporters Poster Awards (1975 and 1985); Gold Medal International Biennial of Posters, Poland (1976); 1st Prize at the 2nd International Biennial of Posters, Finland (1977); Gold and Bronze Medal at the International Jazz Salon "Jazzpo'' (1985); and the Gold Medal at the Polish Poster Biennial, Poland (1989).

As his status grew, Swierzy won the freedom to choose his own subjects, focusing on hardedged American living. He painted broad-shouldered gangsters and gamblers with defiant nonchalance, and produced portraits of jazz greats from Benny Goodman to Miles Davis. Working with S2 Art Group’s lithography atelier in the Las Vegas Arts District, Swierzy created his most recent body of work—a series of widely-admired and collected limited edition, hand-signed lithographs.

In 2005, S2 Art Group launched its High Stakes Art Collection at the World Series of Poker Tournament in Las Vegas, with Swierzy’s images forming a cornerstone of the collection. Titles including “Full House” and “The Strip” capture the world of notorious gangsters, famous jazz musicians, and high-pitched backroom poker matches.

Known for their painterly quality, technique and composition, as well as their originality and sense of spontaneity, “Swierzy’s works are always fresh, easy and entertaining,” wrote fellow artist Niklaus Troxler in the book, Swierzy. “They are full of a joy of life, humor and optimism.”

Swierzy’s artwork has been shown internationally with the Smithsonian Institute’s Traveling Exhibitions, Warsaw’s Muzeum Miejskie Wroczawia, Galeria Grafiki, and the Galeria Letnia Muzeum Nadwislanskiego Kazimierz Polny. Jack Gallery organized the ground-breaking exhibition Waldemar Swierzy: Paintings, Hand-Signed Lithographs, and Posters from the Polish Graphic Movement, the first comprehensive showing of his artwork in the United States. Swierzy continues to paint in his Warsaw studio, and has secured his legacy as a driving force in the graphic arts movement of the late twentieth century.