JOZEF BAJUS: Artist Statement

It is said that nothing is new; everything has already been done. However, the traditional methods of creation can be moved into new dimensions by searching and experimentation.

Experiment and chance fascinate me!

Chance is almost always connected with some surprise element and many times it becomes the animating spirit of solving artistic problems. Nothing happens twice therefore I search in spite of the fact that everything has already happened.

Jozef Bajus (Slovakian-American, 1958- ) was born in 1958 in Kezmarok, Czeckoslovakia. From 1979-1985, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design/AFAD in Bratislava, Slovakia, where he received his BFA and MFA in 1985. He is currently an Associate Professor of Design and Coordinator of Fiber/Design Program at Buffalo State College (BSC) in Buffalo, NY.

Jozef is an award-winning fiber and mixed media artist and was the recipient of the 2016 Langley Kenzie Award, which was gifted to one outstanding artist from the Art in Craft Media biennial, at the Burchfield Penney Art Center (fall 2015) with a solo show in honor of Ms. Kenzie. He also received the 2008 Esprit de Corps Award at the Burchfield Penney Art Center in Buffalo and the President’s Award for Excellence in Research, Scholarship, and Creativity 2008, BSC, Buffalo. Jozef’s work has been exhibited worldwide, including: Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Japan, Korea, USA and Canada. His one-person shows include: Lendfield 2014 at Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center, The Combing Wave – Recent Works 2008 at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Collectors Gallery, Curved Circle 2006 at the Buffalo Art Studio and at the Museum & Art Gallery of Koloman Sokol in Liptovsky Mikulas, Slovakia, 2006.

Jozef taught fiber workshops at the American Craft Museum, NYC in 2001, the Penland School of Art and Craft in 2005, the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in 2007,2010, the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in 2000, 2008 and Split Rock in 2009. His artworks are in numerous public collections including: The Moravian Art & Craft Museum in Brno, Czech Republic, the Slovak National Gallery in Bratislava, Slovakia, the Racine Art Museum in Racine, WI, the Gregg Museum of Art & Design in Raleigh, NC, and the Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo, NY. Jozef’s artworks are also included in numerous private collections in Europe, Canada, Japan, and USA.

Education
1979-85: BFA and MFA in Painting and Fiber - Academy of Fine Arts and Design /AFAD, Bratislava, Slovakia

Experience
2005 - Present
Associate Professor - Tenure with promotion, Buffalo State College, NY
2016 Visiting professor - Jiaxing University, Jiaxing, China
2011 Visiting professor - Kanazawa School of Art and Design, Kanazawa, Japan
2008 Instructor, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME
2007 Instructor, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, TN
2005 Instructor, Penland School of Crafts, NC
2002 Buffalo State College, Coordinator of Fiber/Design Program, Buffalo, NY
2001 Workshop instructor and guest lecturer - American Craft Museum, NYC, NY
2001/02 Visiting artist/guest lecturer, Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, PA
2000 Instructor - Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME          
1999 Visiting artists/guest lecturer‚ The Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
1995 Associate Professor in Fiber and Head of the Fiber Program at AFAD, Bratislava, Slovakia
1990 Head of Textile Design Studio, AFAD, Bratislava, Slovakia

Selected Solo Exhibitions
2023
Claire Ashley & Jozef Bajus - Memory Bank, Raft of Sanity, Buffalo, NY
2021 Jozef Bajus – Garden at Sun Gate, Meibohm Fine Arts, East Aurora, NY
2018
Jozef Bajus - Gold Rush, Buffalo Art Studio, Buffalo, NY
Jozef Bajus - The Corridors Gallery Hotel Henry, Buffalo, NY
2017
Jozef Bajus - Recent Work, String Room Gallery, Wells College, Aurora, NY
Jozef Bajus - Pushing the Envelope, Meibohm Fine Arts, East Aurora, NY
2016
Jozef Bajus - Nothing is Going Away, BPAC, Buffalo, NY
Jozef Bajus – I Walk the Line, Indigo Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
2015
Jozef Bajus & Olga Bajusova - Translation, WNYBAC, Buffalo, NY
Jozef Bajus - Nothing Happens Twice, Manuel Barreto Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
2014
Lendfield, Hallwalls, Buffalo, NY
Long Distance Calls, M.A. Bazovsky Gallery, Trencin, Slovakia
2013 Long Distance Calls, City Gallery of Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia
2011 Look to What is Beneath, Peter A & Mary Lou Vogt Gallery, Bouwhuis Library, Canisius College, Buffalo, NY
2008 The Combing Wave, Albright Knox Art Gallery, Collectors Gallery, Buffalo, NY               
2006
Curved Circle, Gallery of Koloman Sokol, Liptovsky Mikulas, Slovakia
Curved Circle, Buffalo Art Studio, Buffalo, NY
1999 Jozef Bajus – Milos Boda - Contemporary Slovak Art, Montclair State University, NJ
1997 Objects and Compositions, Slovak Cultural Center, Budapest, Hungary
1996 Artslink, Rutgers University Gallery, New Brunswick, NJ
1995 Objects and Compositions, Gallery of Peter Michal Bohun, Liptovsky Mikulas, Slovakia
1989 Bajus & Ilavsky“Menej vyrazne” individualne programy, Dimitrovka Gallery, Bratislava, Czechoslovakia

Selected Group Exhibitions
2022

Think Global, Create Local – International Fiber Art Project, Gallery Satelit, Bratislava, Slovakia
Inspiration by Paper V. – International invitational exhibit, Gallery X, Bratislava, Slovakia
Extraordinary Forms VI: Focus Fibers, Kenan Center, Lockport, NY  
2021
Biennale Internationale de Lin de Portneuf, Vieux Presbytere de Chaschamboult – Grondines, Quebec
Eastern European and Chinese Art - Art Space of Cultural Center, Beilun District, Ningbo, China
Art in Craft Area 2021, BPAC, Buffalo, NY
2020 Restoration at Silo City 2020, Buffalo Art Studio & Silo City project, Buffalo, NY
2019 Playground, Organized by Resource Art, Medina High School, Medina, NY
2018 Co–Artifact, Starlight Studio/Eleven Twenty Projects, Buffalo, NY
2017
Silk and Tradition, China and Central & Eastern Europe, China National Silk Museum, Hangzhou, China
The Corridors Gallery at Hotel Henry, A Resource: Art Project, Hotel Henry, Buffalo, NY
Jozef Bajus & BSC Fiber Students, SVU Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia 
2016 ECHO Art Fair, The Highline Loft, NYC
2015
Art in Craft Media 2015, Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo NY
New Bridges 11:11, Slovakia-Scotland Exhibit, Nitra Gallery, Nitra, Slovakia
2013
My Future Ex, UB Center for the Arts, Buffalo, NY
A Very Long Engagements, Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax, New Scotia, Canada
Vascular Modes, Hallwalls, Buffalo, NY
2011 Modified Expressions, National Craft Gallery, KAF – Kilkenny, Ireland
2010 Fibreman – Kherson Art Gallery, Kherson, Ukraine                              
2004 Strands of Fabrication, Fe Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA 
2001 On Paper - New Paper Art, Craft Council Gallery, London, England 
1999 Chongju International Craft Biennial ’99, Chongju Art Center, Chongju, Korea
1996 Artslink ’96, The Rutgers Gallery, New Brunswick, NJ                                                          
1994

Fiber- Slovak Textiles ’84-’94, SNG, Bratislava, Slovakia                                                              
10 Jahre Internationale Textilkunst in Graz, Graz, Austria
1993
Other Europe, 2nd Biennial of Tapestry and Textile Art, Tournay, Belgique                                     
1992 Interplays, “Suhry” - WCC exhibit, Dom Umenia, Bratislava, Slovakia
1991
Fan, International Exhibition, Namur, Belgique
Alternativy Tapiserie – Ceskej a Slovenskej, Dom Umenia, Bratislava, Brno, Czechoslovakia
1989 5Jahre Jnternationale Textilkunst in Graz, Austria
1988
6th International Biennial of Tapestry, Museum Wlokienictva, Lodz, Poland
1st International Triennial of Patterns, Muczarnok Museum, Budapest, Hungary 

Selected Awards, Fellowships, Grants and Residencies
2021
M&T Bank Call for Work – art installation proposal – winning award
2018 Arquetopia, Artist in Residence, Urubamba, Peru
2015 Langley H. Kenzie Award, (solo exhibit at BPAC in 2016), BPAC, Buffalo, NY
2014 Crystal Wing Award nomination in Category Art, Slovak National Theater, Bratislava, Slovakia
2013 Henkel Award, City Gallery of Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia
2010 New Work – Artist in Residence, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME
2008
The Esprit de Corps Award in category artist 08’, Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo, NY
President’s Award for Excellence in Research, Scholarship & Creativity, BSC, Buffalo, NY
1999 ETN Conference, Helsinki, Rovaniemi, Finland
1997 ETN Conference, Manchester, Great Britain
1996 Artslink Program, The Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper, New Brunswick, NJ
1994 ETN Conference, Budapest, Hungary
1993
ETN Conference, Strasbourg, France
Silk Routes – ETN Conference, Athens, Sufli, Greece  
1992
8th International Symposium, Arturovek 92’, Lodz, Poland
Honorary Mention “Interplays 92”, World Crafts Council Show, Dom Kultury, Bratislava, Slovakia
1989 5th International Fiber Art Symposium, Graz, Austria
1988 First Prize 1st International Triennial of Patterns, Muczarnok, Budapest, Hungary
1985 First Prize “Young Fashion Creator”, Liberec, Czechoslovakia

Selected Collections
Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia
Moravian Art & Craft Museum, Brno, Czech, Republic
Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo, NY
Gregg Museum of Art & Design, Raleigh, NC
Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI
Gallery of Bratislava, Mirbach Palace, Bratislava, Slovakia
Gallery of MAB, Trencin, Slovakia
Szombathely Art Museum, Szombathely, Hungary
China National Silk Museum, Hangzhou, China
Jozef Bajus’ works are included also in numerous private collections in Europe, Canada, Japan and USA

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Art & Design Department, Buffalo State
Meibohm Fine Arts