God is Born… Amidst the Silence of Holiness and Earthly Joy
Exhibition of drawings by Dmitry Grozdev
November 29 2025 | 4.30 PM
Christmas is undoubtedly one of the most beloved and popular themes in art. Artists draw on Gospel and apocryphal motifs, but also enrich the Bethlehem event with their own personal interpretations, creating their own visual narratives, rich in symbolism and metaphor. Dymitr Grozdew also repeatedly draws on the Christmas motif – both in his icon paintings and in his drawings. Over several dozen works, comprising a series illustrating biblical scenes of the Annunciation and the birth of the Savior, the Holy Family, the Virgin Mary, and the saints, are just a selection from the artist’s extensive drawing oeuvre. Gospel motifs and depictions of saints complement images of expressive human figures, framed in Old Polish conventions. The fragility and quiet humility of life contrast here with feasting and joyful, sometimes overblown, celebration – after all, Christmas is a time when the divine and holy are perhaps most intertwined with the earthly and profane, light with darkness, and peace with chaos.
Some of the illustrations presented here were used as graphic design for book publications, but most were created from the heart and often served as a embellishment for family celebrations around the Christmas Eve table. The drawings also have a strong connection to places dear to the artist, to his family homes – the Bulgarian Shopsch region and the Polish Podlasie region. The illustrations depicting Polish noblemen, Jewish dulcimer players, and Bulgarian traditional dancers allude to the culture of these places. The Nativity Song, or the carol God is Born, performed in the rhythm of a polonaise, was first performed in Białystok. One of the most famous images in Polish literature is the ‘Jankiel Concert’, evocative in its historical metaphors. Dance processions, in turn, are the domain of Bulgarian caroling. Dymitr Grozdew’s drawings tell a story about experiencing the Nativity of Christ, about a celebration that has many facets, and above all, about God, born of the Earthly Mother, who entered among the beloved people, sharing with them their hardships and toils.
Vernissage combined with a concert Around the Carols:
Weronika Grozdew-Kołacińska and Rafał Grozdew – vocals
Marta Maślanka – dulcimer
Karolina Matuszkiewicz – violin, knee fiddle
Dariusz Szada-Borzyszkowski – recitation
Vernissage in the OiFP exhibition hall will begin on Saturday, November 29th, at 4:30 PM. Invitations are required and can be collected from the OiFP box office on Odeska Street starting November 18th (the invitation limit has been reached).
The works will be on display until January 11, 2026.
The exhibition will be open from Tuesday to Sunday during box office hours.
Admission: PLN 10
Dmitry Grozdev was born in Sofia in 1946. He studied there at the National Academy of Arts, and then at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, graduating with distinction in 1974. Since 1975, he has lived and worked in Białystok. He is a versatile artist, pursuing his creative endeavors in painting, graphic art, sculpture, poster art, and satirical drawing. He also works in the conservation of paintings and antique prints.
The main focus of his artistic work remains religious art. He has developed a unique style of icon painting, combining the traditions of the Bulgarian school of iconography with the modern technique of assemblage. He is the creator of important works in both Catholic and Orthodox churches (including exterior frescoes in the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Hajnówka, frescoes in the Church of St. Casimir in Białystok, and large-format oil paintings of ‘St. John Paul II’ and ‘Merciful Jesus’ for churches in La Paz, Bolivia, and San Antonio, Texas). In 2022, upon special commission from the Museum of Icons in Supraśl, he created the sgraffito work ‘Annunciation’.
He is the author of numerous graphic designs and illustrations for books (including Z. Waydyk: Unruly Thoughts; Poezja Ostrobramska, edited by Fr. Tadeusz Krahel; Bishop E. Ozorowski: Dialogues on Divine Mercy, the album Białystok Miasto Miłosierdzia, and the Cult of Martyrs in the Archdiocese of Białystok) and magazines (Szpilki, Gazeta Współczesna, Kurier Poranny), as well as graphic arts (including a series of portraits of Polish composers for the Białystok Philharmonic).
He has received numerous awards and distinctions in the field of satirical drawings and posters (including: 1st prize – the ‘Child Health Center’ poster competition, 1979; distinction – the UN stamp competition, 1980; publication in the World Anthology of 20th Century Humor; 2nd prize – the anti-alcohol poster competition, 1986, 1988; 1st prize – the ‘Drug Addiction’ poster competition, 1987; ‘Silver Pen’ – Eerste Nederlandse Cartoonfestival, the Netherlands 1987; 1st prize – Waddingtons Cartoon, England 1988; distinction – Eurohumor 1991, 1992; distinction – Il Pennino Humor Anthology, Italy 1994), as well as for socially engaged projects and realizations (including: 1st prize – the Esperanto sign competition and the ‘Medal of Tolerance’ competition, 1989; 2nd prize – the competition for the design and implementation of ‘Monument to the Sybirak’, Białystok 1996; 1st Prize – the emblem and seal of the University of Białystok, 1998; 1st Prize – the University of Białystok ‘Cum Eximia Gaude’ medal, 1999; logo of the Białystok Philharmonic.
His works have been presented in numerous exhibitions in Poland (Białystok, Warsaw, Łódź, Zamość, Wrocław, Katowice, Oświęcim) and internationally (Bulgaria, Belgium, the Netherlands, England, Japan, Finland, the Czech Republic, Brazil, the United States, Cuba, Italy, Hungary, Turkey, Spain, France, Belarus). 