My art practice is theme-based and I work across different mediums mainly painting, hand printing, photography and drawing. This is because the content of my work often dictates the medium- or several in combination. But also because I love experimenting.
Although the starting point for a theme is often a news item, it can also be something personal. However, these two strands inevitably weave in and out of one another and whatever my intention for the work, on completion it can surprise me, it reveals itself to me, and I think “oh, so that’s what it’s about!”
I always hope that people will engage with my artwork- that its life is extended through the personal narratives they bring to it and through the emotions it evokes in them.
art education & qualifications
Diploma Contemporary Portraiture Art Academy London, 2019
MA Contemporary Art Practice (distinction) Kingston University, 1997
Byam Shaw School of Art, London, 1987-1990
Chelsea College of Art, London, 1986-87
Grażyna Cydzik is a London-based artist, born in Edinburgh of Polish and Polish-Armenian heritage. She has had an evolving art practice alongside a professional career in teaching, both in the primary and adult education sectors. At present she teaches English at a Migrants’ Centre.
After a period away from sustained art making, in 2017 Grażyna enrolled on a 2 year Diploma Course in Contemporary Portraiture at Art Academy London.
selected group exhibitions and with Riverside Artists Group (RAG)
2026
March – May, ‘Pull Focus’, Riverside Artists Group (RAG), Riverside Studios, London
February, ‘Light : Dark’, London Independent Photography, Espacio Gallery, London
2025
November, ING Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London
November, RagAnnual 25 (RAG), Posk, London
October, Pop Up, The Secret Salon, Create and Destroy Studios, London
August – September, ‘Land/Sea/Sky’, Fronteer Gallery, Sheffield, England
April, ‘Listen’, London Independent Photography (CLIP), Espacio Gallery, London
March – May, ‘Do Geese See God’, Riverside Artists Group (RAG), Riverside Studios, London
2024
December, ‘Here and Now’, Oxmarket Contemporary, Chichester, England
November, RagAnnual 24 (RAG), POSK, London
October – November, ‘Dwellings’, Fronteer Gallery, Sheffield, England
October – ongoing, ’The Unfinished Work’, Instagram @haus_a_rest, October 6 live-ongoing, Art Zine Issue 53, www.haus-a-rest.com
August, ’Timeframe’, Pop-Up Photo Exhibition with 8 photographers, Organised by Maria Falconer and Paul Hill, Cromford Mills Education Room, Derbyshire, England
July – August, Summer Exhibition, The Gallery G & S, London, Jakar International Award For Oil Pastel
June, ArtBox Projects, Showing on digital screen ‘Unsafe’, Basel, Switzerland
January, Construction: Disclosure, London Independent Photography, Espacio Gallery London
2023
December, Spectrum Miami Art Show, Miami Art Week, ArtBox Projects, Miami USA
November, ING Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London, Online until December 31
November, Borders (RAG), POSK, London
September – January, RWA 170 Annual Open Exhibition, RWA, Bristol, England
September, SWISSARTEXPO, Artbox.Project Zurich 5.0, Zurich Mainline Station, Zurich, Switzerland
June – August, Royal Academy London Summer Exhibition
May – June, ‘Going Going’, Featured in ‘MAYDAY MAYDAY’ (RAG), 24 artists on Instagram
2022
November, ING Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London, Online until December 31
September – October, Many Rivers to Cross (RAG), Riverside Studios, London
July, 4 Paintings at Hallam Conference Centre, London (RAG)
April – May, Postcards from the River’s Edge (RAG), Robert Phillips Gallery, Walton-on-Thames, England
2021
Online July – September, Figurative Art Now, Federation of British Artists, Mall Galleries, London
Online from May, ‘response – at a distance’ (RAG), www.riversideartistsgroup.com/response, A project devised and overseen by Grażyna Cydzik, Works by seven artists created in response to each other’s work over a period of 4 months in the latter part of Lockdown
March – April, Messages from Somewhere. A project on Instagram by 36 artists. (RAG), Each day within the allotted period one artist posted one image and one piece of text (which contained a randomly selected word from the Swadesh List)
January – March, ’64 days’, Online only, Hammersmith and Fulham ArtsFest, London
2020
December – June, Huddle Winter Art Show, London
November – December, ING Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London
An online exhibition by 16 group members which went live on July 4 2020 (RAG), Originating in a proposal by Grażyna Cydzik to group members during Lockdown to make one drawing every day for four weeks beginning 25 April, the entire project was overseen by Grażyna Cydzik. To coincide with the first stage of easing of Lockdown in England, it was extended to 31 May
2019
November – January, Part of Riverside@Riverside (RAG), Riverside Studios, London
July, Graduate Show, Contemporary Portrait Diploma, Art Academy London
June, ‘dividing line’ (RAG), Central Space Gallery, London