Witold Krymarys (born 1948) is an intermedial and analytical photography artist, a filmmaker and a creator of video art. In the 1980s he participated in the Pitch-In Culture. Apart from artistic activities Krymarys creates commercial and applied photography.
Krymarys graduated from the Electric Department at the Łódź University of Technology. In 1972 he joined the Łódź Society of Photography, and two years later the Association of Polish Art Photographers. Since 1974 he has been practising and conceptualising blurred photography (fotografia poruszona), focusing on emotions and experience related to time-space. Similarly as other representatives of the photomedialist art of the 1970s, such as Antoni Mikołajczyk and Ryszard Waśko, Krymarys was interested in movement analysis and ontology of photographic image. At the same time Krymarys did not restrained from addressing social issues. To capture the dynamism of events he would use photography and video simultaneously and often attach ironic commentaries to his works, as in the case of his exhibition titled Photomotions (Fotomocje) in 1985.
Sense of humour and interest in intermediality and motion in photography drew Krymarys towards Łódź Kaliska and the Pitch-In Culture. The photographer took part in the plein-air sessions in Teofilów and the meetings at The Attic. In 1986, together with Józef Rybakowski, he shot a film titled Machines Trembling, Chimneys Smoking... (Maszyny drżące, kominy dymiące...) the Pitch-In Culture’s dramatic farewell gesture for The Attic. A year earlier, also within the Pitch-In Culture, Krymarys made the A Dance by Ewa B. (Taniec Ewy B.): a film consisting of deliberately blurry images, picturing a spontaneous dance on top a table during a party. The artist used both photo and video cameras to critically explore media coverage, as in 1987 The Race (Wyścig): a simultaneous observation a bicycle race on television and through the window.
Krymarys remains faithful to blurred photography, often juxtaposing static architecture and statues with the dynamics of human gestures and urban traffic. Since 1982 he has been running his own photography studio in Łódź.
Sources:
Krzysztof Jurecki, „Koncepcja zdjęć poruszonych według Witolda Krymarysa”, in: „Witold Krymarys. Fotografia poruszona 1974-2016”, Anna Araszkiewicz (red.), Łódź 2016.
Piotr Krajewski i Violetta Kutlubasis-Krajewska (red.), „Ukryta dekada. Polska sztuka wideo 1985-1995”, Wrocław 2010.
