Between 1982 and 1987, he studied at the Faculty of Painting, Graphics, and Sculpture at the State Higher School of Fine Arts (now the Magdalena Abakanowicz University of the Arts) in Poznań. He graduated with distinction in graphic techniques in 1987. Since then, he has been employed at his alma mater and currently serves as Head of the Third Graphics Studio – Intaglio at the Faculty of Graphic Arts.
The primary focus of Piotr Szurek’s artistic and scholarly research is the self-portrait, explored as a field of broadly understood symbolism intended to convey the non-material dimension of existence. In his work, drawing and graphic practices develop in parallel. Both activities, equally important to him, intersect and complement each other. In his graphic works, they exemplify a distinctive amplification of form developed through drawing, deriving mainly from the vitality and energy of the drawn line. His graphic works are executed using classical intaglio techniques. In his most recent works, however, he combines a cool photographic notation (digital printing) with the characteristic energetic expressiveness previously developed in his graphic practice.