Theo Wujcik

Over the last 30 years, Theo has produced an incredibly diverse and ever-changing body of work. Artist, Master Printer and faculty member at USF, His work is represented in important museum collections throughout the United States, including the Chicago Institute of Art, Library of Congress, Museum of Modern Art, National Gallery of Art, the Brooklyn Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art.



He has been featured in an award winning documentary series, Art Off the Wall and numerous interviews, including the New York Times and Weekly Planet. Exhibitions are too numerous to name, but the more important ones are a touring 30-year retrospective, Contemporary American Realist Drawings, the Jalane and Richard Davidson Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago and Body and Soul: Contemporary Southern Figures at the Columbus Museum of Art.

Artist's Statement
My first week of art school in 1958 is no different from the third week of November, 2004. I knew that I had found my true calling then; and, my future looks as bright as ever now.

When teaching retirement dawned at The University of South Florida after the summer of 2003, I was no freer than I had been my entire career as an artist. Over the years, my work ethic and self discipline carried the day under any circumstance.

In keeping with my history, this year I produced five solo-exhibitions: "Breaking with the Past" at the Bleu Acier Gallery in Tampa, "Blind Couture" at the Millenia Gallery in Orlando, "New Work" at the Von Liebig Art Center in Naples, "Mentors" at the Dennos Museum Center in Traverse City, Michigan; and now, "Apollo" at Tampa International Airport, Airside A.

This summer, I was the recipient of an Austin Abbey Fellowship to study mural painting at the National Academy of Design in New York City. Last year, I focused exclusively on and completed a successful commission for the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa.

My Career has been shaped by being a consistent practitioner and by fateful decisions that in retrospect, revealed their true significance. Permentant public collections of my work can be seen on both Coasts. Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, the La Jolla Museum of Art, La Jolla, CA, Los Angels County Museum of Art, Los Angels, CA, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA.

Being housed in a museum collection or in someone's minds eye is quite comparable. I know that this Tampa International Airport showing will provide my work with countless opportunities for the latter; and, for this I am grateful.

Theo Wujcik, November, 2004