Mural "School of Athens 2024"
The mural " School of Athens 2024 " has been unveiled, referring to the art of the Renaissance, the academy's spirit, and the Faculty of Economics tradition!
The mural "Athenian School 2024" referring to the art of the Renaissance, the spirit of the academy, but also the tradition of the Faculty of Economics has been unveiled! The work designed by Erik Reinvald, a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk, is the result of three weeks of intensive work by six young painters.
The mural on the wall of the WE building was ceremonially unveiled by the Rector of the University of Gdańsk, Prof. Piotr Stepnowski, Vice-President of Sopot Magdalena Cieślik, dr hab. Monika Bąk, prof. UG and Erik Reinvald.
- I am glad that the Faculty of Economics is once again decorated with a mural referring to the most outstanding work of the Renaissance - said the Rector of the University of Gdansk, Prof. dr hab. Piotr Stepnowski.
- It is a beautiful allegory of what we want the University to continue to be. The advancing technocracy makes us forget that the mission of the university is not only to educate and not only to conduct scientific research, but above all to cultivate thought, openness, clarity of mind, praise of self-improvement. This is what this painting reminds us of.
The first mural referring to the work of Rafael Santi on the wall of the Faculty of Economics was created in the 1980s; just like now, it was the work of graduates of the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk. Their design decorated the wall of the building for over 30 years. However, in recent years it was already very damaged and was then covered up during the process of insulating the building.
- The idea to once again have a mural referring to the work of Rafael Santi on the wall of the Faculty of Economics was born about a year ago - says the originator of the mural, dr hab. Monika Bąk, prof. UG. - In this initiative, the Rector supported us from the beginning, for which I am very grateful. We wanted to refer to the previous mural that decorated this wall, but not to recreate it exactly. Today we can look at a work that is a continuation of a certain tradition at our faculty, but nevertheless brings a new spirit.
Students from the Faculty of Painting of the Academy of Fine Arts worked on scaffolding under the building of the Faculty of Economics for almost three weeks. They used the dry fresco technique, which they learned at the Studio of Wall Painting and Stained Glass of the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk.
- The team did a great job and put in a lot of hard work - said the studio assistant Przemysław Garczyński.
- The biggest challenge was to complicate this project. We had to designate many figures, the architecture was difficult due to the scale of the mural, but we managed and I think it looks very good - says one of the artists Agnieszka Lewandowska.
Artistic team
The ceremonial ribbon cutting and unveiling of the mural was attended by Prof. Piotr Stepnowski, Prof. Monika Bąk, the vice-president of Sopot Magdalena Cieślik and the author of the mural project Erik Reinvald.
- During the implementation of the project, we had our own Athenian school here, we had to talk about what we were doing; I am glad that this project was created. It was quite a challenge for me, but it was very developing. I am really happy that it is part of my diploma, and I will be happy to present this project in June at my defense - said Erik Reinvald.
The authors of the mural assure that their interpretation of the "School of Athens" will decorate the Faculty building for the next 30 years.
Mural design: Erik Reinvald
Artists: Erik Reinvald
Kateryna Bisharieva
Antoni Walas
Agnieszka Lewandowska
Dawid Janiak
Justyna Rudzińska
Artistic supervision: prof. Jacek Zdybel
as. Przemek Garczyński
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