abbey house gallery

IntroductionAndrzej Cisowski

Agata KleczkowskaStanisław Młodożeniec

Jakub SłomkowskiAnna Szprynger

Szymon Urbański Maciej Wieczerzak

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Abbey House Gallery – a unique place, unique artists and unique exhibitions, just like „Więcej/More” by Anna Szprynger, who is the first Polish artist to have been awarded the Parisian Salon des Réalites Nouvelles, or „Fotosfera” by Andrzej Cisowski, or the many ouvres by Agata Kleczkowska, Stanisław Młodożeniec, Jakub Słomkowski, Szymon Urbański or Maciej Wieczerzak.Situated in the prestigious vitkAc department store, the gallery regularly exhibits works of carefully selected and recommended artists in an attempt to craft a new approach to art which Abbey House spearheads on the domestic market.

The approach combines promoting Polish contemporary art at home and abroad as well as investing in it. It brings together the creators of art and investors seeking new and attractive opportunities. Mature and well-developed markets treat works of

art as a long term investment whose value gradually appreciates over time.

Abbey House Gallery endorses painters who cooperate with it and represent it. These artists are alumni of fine arts academies with a substantial and well-documented record of works, a history of participation in both individual and collective exhibitions at home and abroad as well as a portfolio of awards from international competitions. They have been selected by our Council of Experts composed of Polish and foreign specialists.

Andrzej Cisowski, who studied in Germany, takes advantage of associations with photography and collage by placing the particular elements that make up an image in their crafted spaces – which is a technique more commonly used in the art of the 80s. His large

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paintings, each with a certain whim of caricature, nearly comic book-like, bring in stark outlines and a sense of illusion which doesn’t immediately allow us to perceive the entire message.

Whereas Cisowski likes to place certain images within others and uses a large spectrum of historical references in order to question both the collective memory and the present moment itself, the deliberately heavy, intense mannerism exhibited by Szymon Urbański implies deep frustration with the experienced reality. He plays with art, and within the framework of art, in a way which is filled with expression and aggression presenting his headstrong, angry personality through vivid colours and stark, cluttered impastos.

Stanisław Młodożeniec’s work shows a shift from compliments to Klee and Miró, a shift from a painful,

ample, yet only drawn line defining places and points on the canvas, to a series of lightly touched works on paper with an almost diaristic range of reference, quote, place and incident.

If it comes to paintings by Maciej Wieczerzak, colour plays the main role. Outlines are thick. The paintings are usually flat and poster-like. The world invoked to life by this artist is one filled with sexual violence. Aggressive colours, cliché symbolic and strong messages dominate. He doesn’t like to be compared to a graffiti artist or a pop art painter, though. He sees himself closer to automatism and surrealistic effect.

Intensive, detailed monochrome paintings make or mimic fine renditions of movement, almost, in some cases, as if water has drained off, the light is glimpsed and illusion is built up through a process of production.

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Agata Kleczkowska paints a range of high-pitched imagery, a stag at bay outlined against a radiating geometry, for instance, palmistry hands splayed against a mountainside. Her textile, a rendition of childhood drawings sewn with thread onto a rough piece of cotton, carries a slower relation to meaning and time.

Jakub Słomkowski makes invented generic, at times touched by surrealism, landscape paintings. He allows the limitation of the invention of space to provide its own place but he is an active collaborative performance artist.

Cooperation with Abbey House Gallery is beneficial to these artists for the promotion it ensures not only at home, but also abroad. One of the more important events in this context was the presentation of Polish painting entitled „Polish Art Now: Presented by

Abbey House”, held in June 2013 in London’s Saatchi Gallery (http://polishartnow.artbiznes.pl/en), one of the most prestigious contemporary art galleries in the present day world. The exhibition presented a compilation of works by the artists cooperating with Abbey House Gallery as well as some of the icons of Polish contemporary art such as Wojciech Fangor, Stefan Gierowski, Aleksander Kobzdej, Eugeniusz Markowski and Henryk Stażewski. Sacha Craddock, the British curator of the exposition, said that those paintings „provided it with context, some fundamental meaning and directions for future development”. In the opinion of this outstanding art critic, the exhibition held in Saatchi Gallery traced the origins of young Polish artists and showed their creative roots. That is why it was „an important beginning of the process of promoting Polish art abroad to such an extent”.

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Jo Caird, a journalist working for The Guardian took this opportunity to ask a question whether the mode of cooperation which is offered to artists by Abbey House Gallery would prove as successful in Britain as well.

Abbey House Gallery is a good example of the benefits of such cooperation in Poland. It is a great place for Polish contemporary art admirers, persons interested in the domestic arts market as well as investors.

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Andrzej Cisowski, on top of being a painter, he is also a performer, who has twice been awarded grants from the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, and has won the EXIT 2005 award and the 2nd prize at the 39th Painting Bienniale „Bielsko Autumn” in 2009. Andrzej Cisowski is truly „the Dadaist chronicler of our time”, now for years maintaining the highest level of artistry.

He holds a Master of Arts degree awarded by the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. He studied in both Warsaw and Düsseldorf, under the guidance of German avant-garde masters such as Konrad Klapheck and A.R. Penck, the Polish landscape painter Rajmund Ziemski.

Andrzej Cisowski

Cisowski for many years considered Jean-Michel Basquiat, as his artistic role model. Cisowski mixes painting and collage, applies methods close to hyperrealism, and loves both pop-art and surrealism. As he himself says, he is in love with all the shades of gray. In his works he often emphasizes the contrast between mismatched details of completely different styles that he puts in one painting. Cisowski works on canvas, cotton, but he also uses scarfs and table cloths, or even thin gauze. He has authored numerous series of paintings, including „American Dream of Life” or „Obrasy”. He draws his inspirations both from the surrounding reality when he references current events such as the plane crash in Smolensk, and from the so-called „processed reality” from the World Press Photo

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images or from daily newspapers. To no lesser extent is he inspired by films, comic books and cartoons, socialist realism posters and vintage photographs. Even in a world filled with images, Cisowski manages to stop, contemplate a given part of reality and bring its depth to the surface.

Cisowski’s works have been exhibited in a number of prestigious galleries both in Poland and abroad, including Zderzak Gallery in Cracow, Kordegarda Gallery in Warsaw, in galleries in Berlin, Amsterdam, New York, Nagoya, Seoul, or recently in the Saatchi Gallery in London during the „Polish Art Now: Presented by Abbey House” exhibition.

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SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

2014 „Fotosfera”, Abbey House Gallery, Warsaw; 2013 „Cztery pory roku”, Wilson Shaft Gallery, Katowice; 2012 „Archeolog obrazu”, f150 Gallery, Warsaw; 2012 „Malarstwo”, Muzeum Mazurskie, Szczytno; 2011 „Fotoplasticon”, Otwarta Pracownia, Cracow; 2011 „Moim celem jest władza”, BWA Gallery, Olsztyn; 2010 Galeria jednego obrazu (Single-Painting Gallery), Mu-seum of Warmia and Mazury, Olsztyn; 2010 „Die Verschwörung”, THE BOX Gallery, Düsseldorf; 2009 Galerie miejsce - der Ort, Berlin; 2009 Cultural Center in the town of Pasym; 2008 „Nowe obrazy”, Lokal 30 Gallery, Warsaw;2007 „Obrazy Cisane”, Baltic Gallery of Contemporary Art, Słupsk; 2006 „American Dream”, OPUS Gallery, Łódź;

2005 „Ziemia na horyzoncie!”, open-air installation in Mazury region; 2005 „Dwadzieścia lat później”, Galeria Promocyjna, Warsaw; 2004 Oberschlesisches Museum, Hösel/Düsseldorf; 2003 Kunstverein reinraum e.V., Düsseldorf; Space Gallery, Cracow; 2000 ost west Galerie, Basel; 1999 Zderzak Gallery, Cracow; 1998 ost west Galerie, Basel; 1997 Galerie Kabuth, Gelsenkirchen; 1996 Galerie Walther, Düsseldorf; 1995 Mały Salon (Room No. 11), Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw; 1995 Galerie d’Eendt, Amsterdam; Galerie des Polnischen Kulturinstituts, Berlin;

Andrzej Cisowski

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1995 Zderzak Gallery, Cracow; 1994 Galerie Walther, Düsseldorf; 1994 Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York; 1993 Galerie d’Eendt, Amsterdam; 1992 Galerie d’Eendt, Amsterdam; 1991 Galerie Gabriele Jeroch, Hanover; Zderzak Gallery, Cracow; 1990 Galerie Walther, Düsseldorf; 1986 Galeria Brama, Warsaw; Zderzak Gallery, Cracow; 1985 Galeria Promocyjna, Warsaw; 1984 Pracownia Dziekanka Gallery, Warsaw.

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:

2013 „Polish Art Now: Presented by Abbey House”, Zatoka Sztuki, Sopot; 2013 „Polish Art Now: Presented by Abbey House”, Mazo-vian Museum, Płock; 2013 „Polish Art Now: Presented by Abbey House”, Saatchi Gallery, London; 2013 „Nieograniczona przestrzeń sztuki”, Art Space, War-saw; 2012 Fibak Gallery, Warsaw; 2011 BWA Gallery, Bielsko-Biała; 2010 Sfera Sztuki Art Fair, BWA Gallery, Bielsko-Biała; 2010 „Bardzo dobre obrazy”, BWA Gallery, Bielsko-Biała; 2009 „Nowa Ekspresja”, BWA Gallery, Olsztyn; 2009 „Nowa Ekspresja. 20 lat. Vol. 2”, Wilson Shaft Gallery, Katowice;

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2009 „Nowa Kolekcja – Moc Sztuki”, Museum of Warmia and Mazury, Olsztyn; 2009 „Bielska Jesień”, BWA Gallery, Bielsko-Biała; 2008 „Kraj: Sztuka artystów z polskim rodowodem”, BWA Gallery, Opole; 2007 „Zwyczajny terror”, Entropia Gallery, Wrocław; 2007 „Zwyczajny terror”, Le Guern Gallery, Warsaw; 2006 „Duktus und Poesie”, Galerie M, Essen; 2006 „Jej Portret”, Galeria Szydłowski, Warsaw; 2006 „Zwyczajny terror”, Sektor I Gallery, Katowice; 2005 Pracownia Rajmunda Ziemskiego, Association of Po-lish Architects (SARP), Warsaw; 2004 Fibak & Büchner Gallery, Warsaw; 2004 Warszawa – Düsseldorf – Warszawa, Aspekt Gallery, Warsaw;

2003 „Bielska Jesień”, BWA Gallery, Bielsko-Biała; 2001 ost west Galerie, Basel; 2000 „Wir treiben’s bunt”, Galerie Dagmar Hensel, Karlsruhe; 2000 Kunstverein, Oberhausen; 1997 „Große Kunstausstellung NRW”, Kunstpalast, Düssel-dorf; 1996 „Rozpoznanie”, Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contempora-ry Art, Cracow; 1995 KunstRAI, Galerie d’Eendt, Amsterdam; 25 Jahre Ga-lerie Walther, Galerie Walther, Düsseldorf; 1994 KunstRAI, Galerie d’Eendt, Amsterdam; „Große Kun-stausstellung NRW”, Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf; 1993 Partners, Galerie d’Eendt, Amsterdam; 1993 Galerie Walther, Düsseldorf;

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1993 „Artomatic”, Galerie d’Eendt, Amsterdam; 1993 Zderzak Gallery, Cracow; 1993 „Künstler für Europa”, Kieler Schloss, Kiel; KunstRAI, Galerie d’Eendt, Amsterdam; 1993 „In situ”, Theater aan het Vrijthot, Maastricht Zollverein, Essen; 1992 Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York; 1992 „Label the West”, Galerie Naf, Nagoya, Japan; 1992 „Ideo-Syncratics”, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York; 1992 „Große Kunstausstellung NRW”, Kunstpalast, Düssel-dorf; 1991 „Fünf Studenten aus der Penck Klasse”, Zderzak Gal-lery, Cracow; 1990 „Auf Grund gehen, Dorstener Kunstverein”, Lem-beck; Arbeiten von 12 Künstlern, Galerie Schütte, Essen;

1989 „Große Kunstausstellung NRW”, Kunstpalast, Düssel-dorf; 1988 „Internationale Graphikbienale”, Wakayama, Seoul, So-uth Korea; 1987 19 Festival International de la Peinture, Cagnes-sur--Mer, France.

Participation in art fairs: Kunstmesse Basel, Art Fair Miami, Contemporary Art Fair Tokyo, Viennafair The New Contem-porary.

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Adalen 31 / 110 x 180 cm / oil, canvas / 2008

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Mendele / 190 x 250 cm / oil, canvas / 2012

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Illumination / 190 x 250 cm / oil, canvas / 2012

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Post / 70 x 50 cm / oil, canvas / 2012

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PRL Girls / 100 x 80 cm / oil, canvas / 2013

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Siesta II / 90 x 80 cm / oil, canvas / 2011

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Debete / 60 x 60 cm / oil, canvas / 2013

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Beach / 60 x 80 cm / oil, canvas / 2013

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Promenade / 80 x 60 cm / oil, canvas / 2014

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Untitled / 80 x 60 cm / oil, canvas / 2014

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Kleczkowska’s works are vivid in color and definitely memorable, very daring and expressive. It is not surprising that one of her paintings was sold for PLN 160,000. Only 25, Agata has already presented her paintings at a Polish Art Now exhibition at the prestigious Saatchi Gallery in London, which is without a doubt a spectacular beginning to a very promising career.

Her art education commenced rather early: when she was 6 years old she started frequenting art classes, then continued in Wojciech Gerson’s Public Art Schools, to finally be accepted as a student in the esteemed master’s studio of Leon Tarasewicz at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. It was here that Agata mastered the painting craft

allowing her to accomplish her non-evident works of color in which one can easily decipher the declared interests of the artist: her fascination with shamanism, magic realism and Stanisław Lem-like science fiction that make her works fantastic in both meanings of this word.

Kleczkowska’s art is a pastiche of pop-cultural works and motifs from the world of painting, cinema and video games. Expressive and memorable, her work conveys the essence of postmodernism and shows her brave approach to contemporary painting, as she collects the far from evident symbols present in applied arts and places them in a subversive form by showing the motifs commonly used throughout the history of art in modern contexts, following

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the best examples of artists most esteemed by both critics and the public, such as Banksy, and by placing the symbols of the 20th and the 21st centuries on classical, often even oriental, materials. Kleczkowska paints animals, as they fascinate her as being other, close-to-nature, ontological forms of being. She is a vegetarian who consciously chose her lifestyle, creating it the same way she creates her art, and who is quickly becoming one of the most prominent young Polish painters.

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SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

2013 „Czarny koń”, Fibak Gallery, Warsaw

GROUP EXHIBITIONS:

2013 „Polish Art Now: Presented by Abbey House”, Saatchi Gallery, London; 2013 „Polish Art Now: Presented by Abbey House”, Sopot Art & Fashion Week; 2013 „Polish Art Now: Presented by Abbey House”, Mazovian Museum, Płock; 2013 „Zwierzę – inspiracja, symbol czy pretekst”, Museum of Hunting and Horsemanship, Warsaw; 2012 22nd National Review of Young Painters PROMOTIONS 2012, Gallery of Art in Legnica;2012 DY-PLO-MY / Agata Kleczkowska, Marta Paciejewska, Irmina Staś; aTak Gallery, Warsaw.

Аgata Kleczkowska

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Untitled / 70 x 70 cm / acrilic, canvas / 2011

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Untitled / 100 x 80 cm / acrilic, canvas / 2011

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Untitled / 100 x 100 cm / acrilic, canvas / 2012

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Untitled / 81 x 100 cm / acrilic, canvas / 2012

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Untitled / 80 x 100 cm / acrilic, canvas / 2012

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Untitled / 130 x 90 cm / acrilic, canvas / 2013

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Untitled / 200 x 120 cm / acrilic, canvas / 2012

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Untitled / 200 x 120 cm / acrilic, canvas / 2012

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Untitled / 100 x 81 cm / acrilic, canvas / 2012

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Untitled / 90 x 90 cm / acrilic, canvas / 2012

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Stanisław Młodożeniec, a Polish artist living and working in New York, has reached commercial and artistic success at a level never before experienced by a contemporary painter out of Poland..

He was born in Warsaw in 1953 in a well known Polish artistic family. He was educated to be a painter. At 30, he decided to test his luck in the USA, to where he moved and subsequently where he settled. He was soon struck by the city’s hustle and bustle, spatial diversity, the aesthetics of the streets, parks, bridges, walls covered in graffiti, the neon lights and the road signs. He started to create art and New York was the protagonist of his creations. Młodożeniec immortalized the urban landscapes of

Manhattan, Bronx and Brooklyn, first taking pictures and then using them as the basis for his paintings. At the beginning, he exhibited his works by his own means and then, together with recognition, came interest from galleries in New York and Toronto.

Młodożeniec’s paintings evolve; from monochromatic abstractions to multi-color landscapes that one can associate with works by Nikifor or those of Basquiat. Młodożeniec often refers to the Big Apple, but one can also find references to his home city of Warsaw. He says that he has not yet artistically matured, and is constantly changing forms, seeking and experimenting. And this is where his ingenuity lies: he never stands still,

Stanisław Młodożeniec

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but continuously evolves and crosses his own limits. His paintings teem with life and inexhaustible potential, just as does his greatest inspiration: New York City.

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Stanisław Młodożeniec

SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

2013 Mazovian Museum, Płock;2011 Painting, Center for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw;2011 Graphics (with his father Jan and brother Piotr), Museum in Zakopane; 2011 Graphics (with his father Jan and brother Piotr),Gallery of Graphics and Posters, Warsaw; 2009 Kurier Plus Gallery, New York; 2007 Yam Gallery, Zakopane;2006 Painting, Gallery of Graphics and Posters, Warsaw;2003 Kurier Plus Gallery, New York; 2002 Painting (with his father Jan and brother Piotr), Kazie-mierz Dolny;1999 Painting (with his brother Piotr), BWA Gallery, Sopot;1997 Painting (with his brother Piotr), Stefania Gallery, New York;

Painting (with his brother Piotr), A.G. Ornoch Gallery in Art 80 Spadina, Toronto;1995 Painting and graphics, Nowy Dziennik Gallery, New York;1994 Painting and graphics, A.G. Ornoch Gallery in Art 80 Spadina, Toronto;Młodożeńcy (with his father Jan and brother Piotr), Xawery Du-nikowski Museum of Sculpture, Warsaw;Painting, Nowy Świat Gallery, Warsaw;Signiert Młodożeniec (with his father Jan and brother Piotr), Po-lish Cultural Institute, Berlin;„Jeden i kilka”, Galeria Przyjaciół A.R., Warsaw;1993 Graphics, Laverie Repassage, Paris;1991 and 1989 Painting and graphics, Polish American Artist Society (PAAS), New York;

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1989 Painting and graphics, Polish Institute of Arts and Scien-ces (PIASA), New York;1987 Graphics, Anna Baumritter Studio, New York;1984 Painting, Armand Bartos Jr. Studio, New York;1981 Painting and graphics, Nowy Świat Gallery, Warsaw;1980 Painting, Teatr Nowy Gallery, Poznań;1978 Painting, Krzywe Koło Gallery, Warsaw.

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1991 „Jesteśmy”, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw;1985 „East Europeans”, El Bahia Gallery, New York;1982 „Jeune Expression”, Grand Palais, Paris;1982 „Świadectwo obecności”, Holy Cross Church, Warsaw;1980 „30 lat malarstwa w Polsce Ludowej”, Poznań, Warsaw;1978 „Premi Internacionale de Dibujo”, Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona.

GROUP EXHIBITIONS:

2013 „Polish Art Now: Presented by Abbey House”, Zatoka Sztuki, Sopot;2013 „Wizje pejzażu”, Galeria Ring, Legnica;2013 „Polish Art Now: Presented by Abbey House”, Mazovian Museum, Płock;2013 „Polish Art Now: Presented by Abbey House”, Saatchi Gallery, London;2013 „Wizje pejzażu”, mia ART GALLERY, Wrocław;2013 „Wizje pejzażu”, Karkonoskie Museum, Jelenia Góra;2012 „Wizje pejzażu”, Exhibition Center St. Petersburg Union of Artists, Saint Petersburg;2011 Klima Bocheńska’s Gallery, Warsaw;2004 „New New Yorkers”, Fabryka Trzciny, Warsaw; 1996 Galeria Przyjaciół A.R. Lata 1992-1996 (Years 1992-1996), Xawe-ry Dunikowski Museum of Sculpture at the Królikarnia Palace, Warsaw;

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Grey landscape / 127 x 121 cm / oil, canvas / 2012

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Untitled / 56 x 71 cm / oil, paper / 2013

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Untitled / 56 x 71 cm / oil, paper / 2013

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Untitled / 56 x 71 cm / oil, paper / 2013

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Untitled / 56 x 71 cm / oil, paper / 2013

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Hudson / 101 x 127 cm / oil, canvas / 2013

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Untitled / 105 x 142 cm / oil, canvas / 2012

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Untitled / 56 x 71 cm / oil, paper / 2013

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:-) / 150 x 133 cm / oil, canvas / 2013

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Aborygenie / 49 x 61 cm / oil, canvas / 2012

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Słomkowski, aside from painting, is also a performance artist, he creates music, writes poetry, is an active culture animator and an actor. Moreover, in all of those fields he has been successful throughout different stages of his life and career. Unlike most artists, he is extremely open to the public and to critics.

Słomkowski graduated from the Faculty of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, where he also specialized in multimedia. In addition to that, he studied fine arts in Madrid and was, for example, distinguished in an international competition of Pintura Rápida Castellar de Jaen.

Słomkowski is also actively working to expand the art-appreciating public, meaning he wants to make art increasingly more accessible. At the same time, his socially engaged projects never lose his characteristic traits and are often inspired by the world of abstraction and surrealism straight from Buñuel’s satires. Słomkowski initiated such interactive projects as „Syrena dla Warszawy” (or „The Mermaid’s Song” at the Przemiany Festival), „Program Music Box” (Hożarty, Samsung Art Master, AudioArt Festival), „Taxi Koło Muzyki” (or „Taxi Polka”, re:wizje Festival, the Bat Yam International Street-Theatre Festival) or „Kontrola Komunikacji” (inaugurating the cycle „Kultura na wynos” at Kordegarda Gallery).

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His artistic maturity is nevertheless best expressed in his paintings. The artist, who cooperates with Abbey House Gallery, specializes in visionary landscapes, frugal and cool, with a mysterious character, that make a deep impact on the audience. Painted mostly in tones of white, gray, brown and black, Słomkowski’s images electrify the viewers with their unusual, enigmatic atmosphere, and their simultaneous monumental and sketchy character. It is also worth mentioning that just like the early Renaissance artists he admires, Słomkowski often draws his inspiration from the biblical world, in particular from the Old Testament.

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SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

2013 „Das Grosse Projekt”, Van den Berg Art Gallery, Warsaw; 2012 Malarstwo, Bazar Konsorcjum, Warsaw; 2012 „ŚWIĘTY / ANIMAL nic co ma opis”, Gallery of Foundation for Promoting Contemporary Art, Warsaw; 2011 „Pokój Jej Duszy”, pop-up gallery Stopandwalk, Warsaw; 2008 „Japończyk skaczący z klifu”, Pracownia-Galeria, Warsaw; 2007 „Aran”, Fibak Gallery, Warsaw; 2004 „Tożsamość” – performance, installation, exhibition of drawings and sketches, Faculty of Painting, Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.

GROUP EXHIBITIONS:

2013 „Polish Art Now: Presented by Abbey House”, Saatchi Gallery, London; 2013 „Polish Art Now: Presented by Abbey House”, Sopot Art & Fashion Week; 2013 „Polish Art Now: Presented by Abbey House”, Mazovian Museum, Płock; 2013 „Wizje pejzażu”, Karkonoskie Museum, Jelenia Góra; 2012 „Artyści dla Ziemi – Land Art Festival”, park at Bydgoskie Przedmieście, Toruń; 2012 „Wizje pejzażu”, Exhibition Center St. Petersburg Union of Artists, Saint Petersburg; 2012 „Contexts 2012” – 2nd International Sokolovsko festival of Ephemeral Art; 2012 2nd Garden Festival (Kolektyw Parque-nō), Bolestraszyce; 2012 „Dom Heinego”, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski;

Jakub Słomkowski

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PERFORMANCE:

2013 „ICAR” Closing Night, Learning from Warsaw Porthos, Warsaw (with Loic Bertrand);2013 „Ciało. Dziecko. Obiekt.” as a part of SPAZIO 2013, Stary Browar, Poznań (with Iza Szostak); 2013 „PERFORMANCE DAY – Sixty minute złodziej”, Center for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw (with Jakub Dykiert);2013 „I STYX 2” Survival, Wrocław (with Loic Bertrand);2012 „I STYX 2012” Contexts 2012, Sokolovsko Culture Laboratory (with Loic Bertrand);2012 „Merce Cunningham: Re//Mix”, Art Stations Foundation by Grażyna Kulczyk, Poznań (with Iza Szostak).

2012 „Kolacja na Hucie”, Kordegarda Gallery, Warsaw; 2010 „Letni Nieletni” – performance, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw; 2010 „Widok w okna”, Pharmacy of Art Gallery, Warsaw; 2009 Exhibition of the winning artists for the national competition of visual arts Samsung Art Master, The Center for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw; 2007 Exhibition of final degree projects in painting, Studio Gallery, Studio Theater, Warsaw; 2007 „Smołdzińskie Plenery”, Baltic Gallery of Art in Ustka; 2007 „Wystawki z Obrazy”, MCK Little Gallery in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski; 2004 „Zapisy”, Aspekt Gallery, Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw; 2003 „Dłużew”, Studio Theater, Warsaw.

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Steamy Stain / 115 x 160 cm / oil, canvas / 2012

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Exhibit / 170 x 170 cm / oil, canvas / 2012

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Extraterrestre / 40 x 30 cm / oil, canvas / 2012

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Turner and His Remembrance of Whales from the cycle „Jonah in the Whale’s Abdomen” / 125 x 180 cm / oil, canvas / 2010

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abd / 120 x 120 cm / oil, canvas / 2011

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There Was Life / 150 x 150 cm / oil, canvas / 2011

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Revolutionary Wing of Desert / 116 x 160 cm / oil, canvas / 2011

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Berg / 115 x 160 cm / oil, canvas / 2013

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Untitled / 80 x 80 cm / oil, canvas / 2013

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Untitled / 100 x 100 cm / oil, canvas / 2013

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Once you see Anna Szprynger’s art, you will never forget it. Nor will you mistake her style for anyone else’s. Her paintings, usually black and white, are done with such meticulousness and such perfection that it is truly unbelievable that they were painted by a human hand.

Anna’s education was very international: it started at the Kazimierz Dolny branch of the Marie Curie-Skłodowska University; then there was Footscray Community Arts Centre in Melbourne and finally three years at Krzysztof Pruszkowski’s atelier in Paris. Her master’s degree obtained at the Marie Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin was awarded a professor’s distinction and initiated a long run of success for Anna. In 2012 her proposed PhD dissertation was qualified

Anna Szprynger

for acceptance under the supervision of Professor Dorota Grynczel.

In 2011, the esteemed curator and art critic Bożena Kowalska placed one of Szprynger’s works in a contemporary painting review at the BWA Gallery among the top creators: Karl-Heinz Adler, Hellmut Bruch, Georg-Karl Pfahler, Henryk Stażewski, Wojciech Fangor and Roman Opałka. In 2012 Anna presented her works at a solo exhibition, „Wobec horyzontu”, at the National Gallery of Art in Sopot.

A year later her paintings represented Polish art in St. Pe-tersburg, at the Exhibition Center of the St. Petersburg Union of Artists, and in London during the exhibition „Polish

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Art Now: Presented by Abbey House” at the famous Saatchi Gallery. In September 2013 Anna was awarded the prestigious Marin Award during the 67th Salon Réalités Nouvelles that took place in Paris and that is one of the world’s most prestigious events promoting abstract art.

Anna Szprynger’s paintings are minimalist and small in size, but at the same time they remain ultimately expressive and recognizable. She never uses any line stencils or other aids, yet still her works are so precise they resemble technical drawings. Her art, even though being a magnificent example of geometric abstraction, also happens to be inspired by architecture and landscape. Highly self-aware and of great technical consequence, Anna’s painting is built on black and white,

refined structures of lines drawn with the thinnest of brushes. „Mrs Line”, as Anna Szprynger is sometimes affectionately called by the press, has already taken the world of art by storm. And this is only the beginning of her international career!

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SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

2014 „Prosta nieskończona”, Art Centre Gallery EL, Elbląg;2013 „Więcej / More”, Abbey House Gallery, Warsaw;2012 „Wobec horyzontu”, National Gallery of Art, Sopot;2012 „Białe na czarnym”, Fibak Gallery, Warsaw;2010 „Malarstwo”, BWA Gallery, Sandomierz;2009 „Geo”, Rybna 4 Gallery, Lubelskie Towarzystwo Zachęty Sztuk Pięknych (Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in Lublin), Lublin;2009 „Pomiędzy”, Art NEW media Gallery, Warsaw;2008 „Geo”, XX1 Gallery, Warsaw;2008 „Bio”, Pokaz Critics Gallery, Warsaw;2006 „Wyprana Architektura”, Schody Gallery, Warsaw;2003 „Wyspy”, Obserwatorium Gallery, Kazimierz Dolny.

Anna Szprynger

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GROUP EXHIBITIONS:

2014 „Sztuka a Transcendencja” – Radziejowice 2013, exhibition of the works of artists participating in the 31st

International Open-Air Workshops for Artists Speaking the Language of Geometry (XXXI Międzynarodowy Plener Artystów Posługujących się Językiem Geometrii), Center for Contemporary Art Elektrownia, Radom;2013 „67 Salon des Réalités Nouvelles 2013”, Parc Floral de Paris, Prix Marin 2013;2013 „Sztuka a Transcendencja” – Radziejowice 2013, exhibition of the works of artists participating in the 31st

International Open-Air Workshops for Artists Speaking the Language of Geometry (XXXI Międzynarodowy Plener Artystów Posługujących się Językiem Geometrii), XX1 Gallery, Warsaw;2013 „Wizje pejzażu”, Ring Gallery, Legnica; mia ART GALLERY, Wrocław; Karkonoskie Museum, Jelenia Góra;

2013 „Polish Art Now: Presented by Abbey House”, Mazovian Museum, Płock;2013 „Polish Art Now: Presented by Abbey House”, Saatchi Gallery, London;2013 „Czym jest dziś sztuka?” – Radziejowice 2012, exhibition of the works of artists participating in the 30th International Open-Air Workshops for Artists Speaking the Language of Geometry, Center for Contemporary Art Elektrownia, Radom;2013 „POLEN KONSTRUKTIV-KONKRET I”, Galerie Edition Roy, Kunnersdorf;2012 „Czym jest dziś sztuka?” – Radziejowice 2012, exhibition of the works of artists participating in the 30th International Open-Air Workshops for Artists Speaking the Language of Geometry, XX1 Gallery, Warsaw;

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2012 „Wizje pejzażu” – Exhibition Center St. Petersburg Union of Artists, Saint Petersburg;2012 „Sztuka a poznanie”, exhibition of the works of artists participating in the 29th International Open-Air Workshops for Artists Speaking the Language of Geometry, Center for Contemporary Art Elektrownia, Radom;2011 „Sztuka a poznanie”, exhibition of the works of artists participating in the 29th International Open-Air Workshops for Artists Speaking the Language of Geometry, Warsaw;2011 „Kolekcja dzieł sztuki Bożeny Kowalskiej”, BWA Contemporary Art Gallery in Katowice;2010 „Siła sztuki”, Lviv Palace of Arts, Lviv;2009 „SIEGesIKONen/Icons of Victory – transFORM”, Humboldt Berlin (Umspannwerk);2009 „Cisza monochromów”, BWA Town Gallery, Lublin;

2009 „To idzie młodość”, Klima Bochenska’s Gallery, Warsaw;2008 „Lubelski Autograf 2008”, Lublin Museum, Lublin;2008 „Doznania” – joint exhibition with Magdalena Raczko- -Pietraszek, BWA Town Gallery, Lublin;2007 „38. Biennale Malarstwa Bielska Jesień 2007” / „38th Painting Biennial Bielsko Autumn 2007”, BWA Gallery, Bielsko Biała;2007 „Młodzi artyści – młoda sztuka”, Town Gallery – Labirynt 2 Gallery, Lublin;2007 „Grafika i rysunek roku 2005–2007”, Lublin Museum, Lublin;2006 „14. Salon Wschodni Sztuki”, Grafika / „14th Eastern Show-Room of Art”, Graphic Art, Lublin.

86

Untitled / 50 x 50 cm / acrilic, canvas / 2012

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Untitled / 20 x 30 cm / acrilic, canvas / 2012

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Untitled / 20 x 20 cm / acrilic, canvas / 2012

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Untitled / 20 x 20 cm / acrilic, canvas / 2013

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Untitled / 38 x 46 cm / acrilic, canvas / 2013

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Untitled / 38 x 46 cm / acrilic, canvas / 2013

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Untitled / 40 x 40 cm / acrilic, canvas / 2013

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Untitled / 38 x 46 cm / acrilic, canvas / 2013

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Untitled / 20 x 20 cm / acrilic, canvas / 2013

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Untitled / 20 x 30 cm / acrilic, canvas / 2013

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Szym

on

Urb

ańsk

i

98

Szymon Urbański is one of the most inventive and expressive artists among Polish contemporary painters. Hate it or love it, no one can stay ambivalent about his art, not least because of its peculiar, radical aesthetics, but also because of the artist’s eclectic and appealing character.

Urbański obtained a master’s degree in painting in the studio of a distinguished Polish abstractionist painter, Stefan Gierowski, at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. When Poland was under communist regime, Urbański’s art existed mainly in the public space. Its traces can still be found in contemporary Poland, as for example the mural paintings on Grota-Roweckiego bridge in Warsaw

that were made in 1987. Urbański’s works are considered among the most important oeuvres of that time. The beginning of his artistic activity coincides with the times of rebellion in Polish art, represented for example by the many art collectives present in Poland at that time like the Łódź Kaliska collective, the Pomarańczowa Alternatywa collective from Wrocław or his older colleagues from Gruppa at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, from whom Urbański acquired his belligerent style.

Szymon Urbański’s works can sometimes be vehement or shocking, yet at the same time enriched with unusual sensitivity and melancholy. Even though he takes up subjects which are close to life, social or traditional,

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national or patriotic, he stays radically critical. He leads an independent, solitary life, always avoiding interviews and disappearing every couple of years only to return with new paintings, always surprising and memorable. Urbański has twice been in the Benedictine monastery in Tyniec, which is so reflective of his spirituality both in life and in art.

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Szymon Urbański

SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

2002 „Nowe obrazy”, Pokaz Critics Gallery, Warsaw; 1992 „Galerie Ariadne” (with Paweł Kowalewski), Vienna; 1991 „Na schodach”, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw;1990 Participation in painting workshops Sommeratelier, Hanover; Galleria Spicchi dell’Este, Rome; 1989 „Tra-la-la”, Association of Polish Architects (SARP), Warsaw; 1989 „O Jezus Maria”, BWA Gallery, Puławy; 1989 „Polonez”, Dziekanka Gallery, Warsaw; 1989 „Gaz do dechy”, Zderzak Gallery, Cracow.

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GROUP EXHIBITIONS:

2013 „Polish Art Now: Presented by Abbey House”, Zatoka Sztuki, Sopot;2013 „Polish Art Now: Presented by Abbey House”, Mazovian Museum, Płock;2013 „Polish Art Now: Presented by Abbey House”, Saatchi Gallery, London;2012 „Uśpiony kapitał”, Museum of King Jan III’s Palace at Wilanów, Warsaw; 2004 „Powinność i bunt”, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw; 2001 „Bieg czerwonych ludzi”, Zderzak Gallery, Cracow; 2001 Obraz roku (Painting of the Year), Królikarnia Xawery Dunikowski Sculpture Museum, Warsaw; 1996 Villaggio Globale happening (with the use of Urbański’s paintings), Rome;

1995 „Rysunek, pierwszy zapis”, Królikarnia Xawery Dunikowski Sculpture Museum, Warsaw; 1991 „Polski szyk”, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw; 1991 „Kunst Europa”, Bonn; 1991 „W polu widzenia”, Copenhagen; 1990 „Raj utracony. Sztuka polska po roku 1949 i 1989”, Center for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw; 1989 „Na obraz i podobieństwo”, former Norblin Factory, Warsaw; 1989 „Polak, Niemiec, Rosjanin”, former Norblin Factory, Warsaw; 1989 „Dom”, BWA Gallery, Suwałki; 1988 „Wystawa młodego malarstwa z Polski”, Prague, Budapest, Stockholm, East Berlin; 1987 „Co słychać”, former Norblin Factory, Warsaw.

102

Ruch / 140 x 100 cm / oil, canvas / 2005

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European Dwarf / 150 x 100 cm / oil, canvas / 2006

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Szymon Paints / 140 x 100 cm / oil, canvas / 2005

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Oil the First Hunger / 137 x 100 cm / oil, canvas / 2011

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Virgin Mary Book of Hours / 111 x 73,5 cm / oil, canvas / 2011

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Ecstasy on the Pillar / 130 x 110 cm / oil, canvas / 2011

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Night Side / 130 x 110 cm / oil, canvas / 2011

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Stylish Uhlan Asks / 120 x 120 cm / oil, canvas / 2011

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Toupée / 136 x 100 cm / oil, canvas / 2005

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Blue Sadness / 136 x 100 cm / oil, canvas / 2004

113

Mac

iej

Wie

czer

zak

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Aggressive colors, contrasting sets, thick outlines. A maze of skulls, male and female genitals; a strong message, provocation and a merciless game between the artist and the viewer. In other words: Maciej Wieczerzak’s art will leave no one indifferent.

Wieczerzak has already been twice exhibited in London (including the „Polish Art Now: Presented by Abbey House” show in the renowned Saatchi Gallery and „Ladybird’s Picnic Exhibition” in Acquire Arts Gallery), as well as in Tallinn (Estonia), Prešov (Slovakia) and in numerous Polish cities, for instance during the Samsung Art Master pre-auction exhibition at The Center for Contemporary Art in Warsaw.

Wieczerzak has been awarded a grant from the Polish Minister of Science and Higher Education and graduated with honors from the Faculty of Art at the University of Rzeszów, obtaining his degree in the studio of Professor Stanisław Białogłowicz.

His approach to painting is daring and innovative. During the whole day of his challenging work (creative work usually takes up 8 hours of his day, 7 days a week; he usually works on 3 or 4 paintings at the same time), the artist never turns off his computer. First he does the sketches, then he scans the graphics and processes them on his computer. Next, using the projector, he displays the project on canvas and only then does he start to

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paint. This is why Wieczerzak’s works resemble posters or cartoons: the colors closely fill in the contours; no space for subtlety is left here: only for a vivid, striking effect.

Wieczerzak is fascinated by the colorful world of advertisements, shops and TV, staying close to Zygmunt Bauman’s conception of culture as a supermarket, where one can package art. Wieczerzak’s paintings seem to confirm this thesis: here we are likely to find characters from fairy tales, video games, religious and pop-cultural icons, as well as historical and contemporary characters. MTV inspirations are paired with those inspired by Goya, the splendor of the Baroque accompanies simple artistic techniques. And a mad imagination that no one can resist.

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Maciej Wieczerzak

SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

2013 „Libertines”, Praska Drukarnia, Warsaw;2013 „Horror vacui”, SH Studio, Warsaw; 2012 „Malarstwo”, Fibak Gallery, Warsaw; 2009 „Maciej Wieczerzak. Malarstwo”, Kawiarnia Galeria DESSA, BWA Rzeszów; 2009 „No Name Exhibition”, Galeria Schody, Warsaw.

GROUP EXHIBITIONS:

2013 „Polish Art Now: Presented by Abbey House”, Zatoka Sztuki, Sopot; 2013 „Polish Art Now: Presented by Abbey House”, Mazovian Museum, Płock;2013 „Polish Art Now: Presented by Abbey House”, Saatchi Gallery, London; 2011/2010 Polish-Romanian Exhibition, MASKA Theater, Rzeszów; 2010 Final degree projects exhibition 2010, Galeria Miejska ZSP (City Gallery of Artistic Schools), Rzeszów; 2010 „Ladybird’s Picnic Exhibition”, Acquire Arts Gallery, London; 2010 1st Podkarpacie Art Festival „Wschód Sztuki Sztuka Wschodu”, Wanda Siemaszkowa Theater, Rzeszów; 2010/2009 „Autoportrety na start”, Regional Museum in Stalowa Wola;

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2009 Exhibition after the Hadle Szklarskie 2009 open-air workshops, Palace and Park Complex, Hadle Szklarskie; 2009 Slovak-Polish Painting Confrontations, Gallery Behind 7 Windows, Prešov, Slovakia; 2009 Slovak-Polish Confrontations, City Gallery Pod Ratuszem, Rzeszów; 2008 Exhibition after the competition „Autoportret”, Regional Museum in Stalowa Wola; 2008 „Tallin Winter Exhibition”, Tamm Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia; 2008 90th Anniversary of Independence, Hortar Gallery, Tarnów; 2008 „Akt, Ciało, Interpretacje”, Gallery of the State Drama School (PWST) and the Academy of Fine Arts, Cracow; 2008 All-Poland Drawing Exhibition 2008, Toruń; 2008 „Autoportret”, Academy of Fine Arts, Cracow;

2008 Group Exhibition, Wanda Siemaszkowa Theater, Rzeszów; 2007 Exhibition after the competition „Autoportret”, Regional Museum in Stalowa Wola; 2007 Exhibition after the Biecz 2007 open-air workshops, University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszow, Rzeszów; 2007 Samsung Art Master pre-auction exhibition at Center for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw; 2006 Dialog Between the ISP UR (University of Rzeszów) and DK, SCK (Cultural Center) in Mielec; 2003 „Młodzi Młodym”, DK SCK (Cultural Center), Mielec.

118

Neonoe (triptych) / 3 x 100 x 50 cm / acrilic, canvas / 2009

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Masquerade / 90 x 90 cm / acrilic, canvas / 2012

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Ludo I / 90 x 90 cm / acrilic, canvas / 2011

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Gossip II / 90 x 90 cm / acrilic, canvas / 2012

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Dance III / 120 x 200 cm / acrilic, canvas / 2012

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Sover / 100 x 120 cm / acrilic, canvas / 2013

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Jolly Roger V / 90 x 90 cm / acrilic, canvas / 2011

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Size 38 / 120 x 100 cm / acrilic, canvas / 2013

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EMSTO / 120 x 100 cm / acrilic, canvas / 2013

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Kaper / 120 x 100 cm / acrilic, canvas / 2013

vitkAc | Bracka 9 (IV floor) | 00-501 Warsaw | Poland

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