Andrzej Lachowicz’s work is based on conceptual art and is characterised by intellectual independence, criticism of one-sided determinations of the role of conceptualisation of the creative process and the transformation of everyday life. Lachowicz was primarily engaged in conceptual photography, and he also created in the media of film, graphics, drawing and painting.
His contribution to art theory and the development of contemporary art in Poland is significant, primarily due to theoretical texts and the co-founding of the independent gallery PERMAFO. From 1978 to 1995, he was the International Biennial of Drawing organiser in Wrocław.
His works are not narrative; they focus on comparison and analysis; they are conceptual procedures (Energy of the Fall, 1980 – 1981). Shadow is the title of a series of works that Lachowicz has worked on in the photographic and video media since the 1960s. In it, the artist introduces the character of the ubiquitous, invisible observer as one of the repressed fears of modern civilisation.
Lachowicz is one of the founders of one of Poland’s most influential independent galleries – PERMAFO. It was opened in Wrocław in 1970 by Andrzej Lachowicz and Natalia LL (his longtime partner and one of the most important conceptual artists in Poland), artist Zbigniew Dłubak and art critic Antoni Dzieduszycki. The title consists of the abbreviations for “permanent” and “photography” – permanent photography, and the gallery focused mainly on the photographic medium and operated until 1981. It featured many artists from the surrounding countries and “Western” artists, conceptual artists, and performers, including Joseph Beuys, Tibor Hayas, Joseph Kossuth, Jiří Valoch and others.