Zbigniew Sałaj was born on 21.05.1961 in Inowrocław, Poland. He works and lives in Cracow. He graduated from Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow having studied in the Faculties of Painting and Graphic Arts between 1981-1986. Zbigniew Sałaj works in the Faculty of Painting at the Academy of Arts in Cracow where he runs an Interdisciplinary Studio, PhD. His works include painting, painting environment, drawing, paper objects, installation art, earth art and video.Using a paint runner he covers paintings and gallery spaces with multilayers of paint. The most famous of his paper art are static or mobile paper objects created using his own original method as well as objects referring to the concept of book art. Paper solids are glued together at the edges to create compact objects or amorphic formations. These creations often take their forms according to the current positioning or shape of the surface to which they are applied. Often objects susceptible to touch are created so their form can be manipulated while touched.
Zbigniew Sałaj took part in more than 20 individual exibitions as well as several dozen group shows in Poland and abroad exhibiting paintings, drawings, paper objects, mobile installation art and photography. He has also been involved in many ‘en plein air’ initiatives.
His works are part of the permanent collections of:
The Museum of Contemporary Art Foundation in Cracow (Poland),
The National Museum in Cracow (Poland),
The Jagiellonian University Museum (Poland),
University of Fribourg (Switzerland),
City of Aalst Museum (Belgium),
Book Art Museum in Łódź (Poland),
The Library of the University of Łódź (Poland),
Konrad Adenauer Foundation (Germany),
Stanford University Library (USA),
St. John’s Library in Pesaro (Italy)
Musahino Art University Museum & Library Tokio (Japan)
His works also form part of private collections in Poland, Germany, Switzerland, France, Austria, Italy, Latvia, USA, Belgium, Spain, Sweden and UK.