The Howard Greenberg Gallery in Manhattan is among the top fine art galleries for photography and houses work of the legends, virtually all the major players including Robert Frank, Eugène Atget, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Saul Leiter, Mary Ellen Mark, William Klein, Ruth Orton, Walker Evans, Weegee, Bruce Davidson, André Kertész, William Klein, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Berenice Abbott, Arnold Newman, Gordon Parks, Edward Steichen, Paul Strand, Garry Winogrand, Edward Weston, Joel Meyerowitz, Vivian Maier and many more.
Now, I can say I also have exhibited there. The photograph above that is hung on the gallery wall in the photo below is from Coney Island and has the image series number and handwritten message: [11/50, “Make Time for Playtime!”] plus my signature, K.Andrzej. (More on that in a moment.)
In October 2023, I started a project to put my street photography out in front of more people in public, in a multitude of galleries. My goal was to get seen without having to ask permission in spaces around the world.
In lieu of gallery space, I turned to the loo.
Exhibiting under my fine art photographer mononym, K.Andrzej (KAHN´-zhay), I created the Bathroom Art Show, “Restless Streets”, which is defined as a popup photography exhibit.
From the show’s description: “Restless Streets”, is an art show in (primarily) public bathrooms throughout the U.S. and Europe by photographer K.Andrzej, created and displayed publicly in the tradition of Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and JR among other urban street artists. ‘Restless Streets’ refers to the description often attributed to photographer Garry Winogrand: ‘restless street photographer’.
The photographs were chosen for the project and printed. A series number (1 through 50 prints total) plus a quote were hand-written on each one and each had a printed signature on the photograph’s border: “K.Andrzej”. That’s all, nothing else.
No mention of a web site or anything else about the work. Just the photograph. I purposely used a very expensive double-sided tape with a high-quality glue that is easily removed and leaves no mark on the wall.
I also created KAndrzej.com to take interested viewers to info about the show, should they choose to do a web search for the name.
In the past six months, my photographs have been displayed in public bathroom “galleries” throughout Colorado, and friends have taken photographs to display in Los Angeles, Arizona, Minnesota, New Jersey and now New York. More are going up all the time.
Some of my photographs are even displayed internationally in Germany and Italy, thanks to a friend who frequently travels to Europe.
It’s safe to say my photographs have been viewed countless times.
It’s been great to have my street photography work displayed in places and seen by people who otherwise never would have. What I handwrite on each one is typically a message of positiveness or hope. The goal is to have them seen by people in public and to last for as long as the “gallery owner” permits.
I know of one pub where two photographs were hung, one in each bathroom and the waitress noticed my camera and asked if I put up photographs in the bathroom. I admitted I had and explained it was part of a public art show. The following visit, when I saw her at the pub, she said the management took them down. I asked what happened to them and she said she liked them very much and they’re now on her refrigerator. As long as they’re still in existence, still on display anywhere, that’s okay.
If you want to see what is written on the other images, you’ll have to discover one in a public bathroom near you.
It’s my Bathroom Art Show, “Restless Streets”, a public popup photographic art exhibit because we can’t wait for others to choose us. We have to make things happen for ourselves.
Or in this case, for K.Andrzej. (My first initial and middle name Andrew’s Polish spelling.)
6x6 Portraits | Kenneth Wajda 
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