NEW YORK, NY.- For his first exhibition with Todd Merrill Studio, Polish-Canadian artist Przemek Pyszczek translates his conceptual Playground Structures into high-end, playfully utilitarian furniture design.

Employing elements of constructivism, minimalism, and postmodernism, Pyszczek’s sculptures and installations thematically explore the homogeneity of mass-produced communist architecture and the visual legacy that flourished after the fall of the Eastern Bloc.

“The idea to collaborate came about very naturally,” says Todd Merrill. “Works that present a dynamic visual impact while conveying a thoughfulness, personal to the maker, are what is driving the best of today’s contemporary design. I was immediately drawn to Pyszczek’s ability to distill very complex ideas into such simple, evocative pieces and he had been considereing creating a series of works that bridged the gap between conceptual and functional. Together we concieved of a complete collection of unique pieces, that introduced high-end materials, based on his Playground Structues.

Pyszczek completed studies in Environmental Design (Architecture) at University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, CA, before moving to Berlin in 2010 to pursue his own artistic work. In 2012, he toured Poland, which had dramatically changed since his family’s emigration to Canada in 1987.

The ubiquitous tubular metal playgrounds that populated the communist-built housing blocks form the basis for Pyszczek’s sculptural work. These rudimentary structures were made locally, often by unregulated municipal metal workers, who would infuse their own expressions, engendering them with a sense of congenial naiveté.

In transposing these visual elements into conceptual art, Pyszczek relies on memories of these found forms. The result are fragmented compositions of broken rings and linear bars, painted with an overly-saturated palate. As the communist playground constructions were initially designed to serve the dual purpose of public art and recreation, Pyszczek’s artistic works have now approached full circle. The formerly conceptual sculptures, in his signature brightly painted tubular metal, have evolved into a group of modular tables, seating, and shelving, each integrated with high end materials such as stone, brass, and high-density polycarbonate. The most directly referential piece is a commanding chartreuse leather upholstered chaise framed by a considerably large “jungle gym.”

While the works share a kinship with minimalist artists like Sol Lewitt and Donald Judd, they evocatively capture a bittersweet era on the cusp of an innovation, technology, and communications boom.

Also on view: Pyszczek’s vibrant Façade Paintings emulate the bold, post-communist public murals superimposed on the prefab housing blocks that had been built to accommodate displaced people in the years after the Second World War. After the fall of Communism, these buildings were renovated with a skin of Styrofoam and stucco to address heating concerns. Graphic murals were painted on the sides of the buildings in somewhat ludicrous colors with deceptively pleasant geometric themes, to mask the buildings’ austere origins.

Pyszczek’s painted Dibond panels are superimposed with aluminum tubular frames. The geometric frames are patterned after the omnipresent metal window security bars and railings traditionally found in Eastern Europe going back to communist times.

“People couldn’t readily import commercial products and so they had to rely on the limited amount of goods that could be imported from other communist countries or make things themselves,” says Pyszczek. “This person who’s not a designer or artisan, he’s just a metal worker, ends up expressing some innate creative impulse in this very practical task of making a railing or bars for a window.”

Through a lens of contemporary constructivism Pyszczek’s Façade Paintings represent an autobiographical homage to the culturally revisionist legacy of his native home.