A painter Zbigniew Gostomski repeatedly explored the integration of artwork and environment, taking painterly problems as a starting point for working with space. His earliest environment work was his first solo exhibition at Foksal Gallery in 1967. It represented a significant depar- ture from traditional oil painting, embracing the concept of space as a three-dimensional image in which viewers could immerse themselves. The exhibition room’s walls became the boundaries of this image, while its components were frames and planes tilted in relation to one another and to the gallery walls. Fluorescent light was an additional medium in this groundbreaking example of environment art in Poland. Writing about the work-as-exhibition, art critic Anka Ptaszkowska observed: ‘It feels as if the artist were holding the gallery room in his hand and composing an image within it, without regard for any external considerations or constraints. And that gave rise to an astounding situation: Gostomski made a painting — but it cannot be seen because the viewer is inside it.’

Zbigniew Gostomski (1932–2017) – painter, installation and environment artist, associated with the Polish post-war avant-garde, co-founder of the Foksal Gallery. In his abstract paintings, he explored the illusory nature of space and the contrasts between light and shadow.