Stani Nitkowski
“Stani Nitkowski was born on May 29, 1949. Born to a miner father, of Polish origin, who came to Anjou to work in the slate quarries, and of a Piraean mother, Stani Nitkowski found himself, at 23, in a wheelchair because of myopathy. He quickly abandons abstraction, and begins to draw with ink. His meeting with Robert Tatin, a painter in Cossé-le-Vivien, will encourage and influence him. His first exhibition was in Angers in 1974. On the advice of Jean Dubuffet and Robert Tatin, he meets Cérès Franco who welcomes him in his gallery L’Œil de Bœuf several times. At the same time, Roland Vanuxem becomes his merchant. His work as an artist is deeply marked by his illness. His work is strong, black, tortured in the image of his life. Upset by the death of his son in February 2001, Nitkowski chose to disappear in April, at age 52.”
