MALARKI / WOMEN PAINTERS
Basia Bańda • Małgorzata Blamowska • Milena Brudkowska • Izabela Chamczyk • Monika Chlebek • Julia Curyło • Aleksandra Czerniawska • Kamila Czosnyk • Pola Dwurnik • Viola Głowacka • Aleksandra Ignasiak • Ewa Juszkiewicz • Maja Kitajewska • Karolina Komorowska • Katarzyna Kukuła • Agata Kus • Cecylia Malik • Julita Malinowska • Magdalena Moskwa • Anna Reinert • Jadwiga Sawicka • Agula Swoboda • Marta Szulc • Siostra Michalina
Art by women painters is currently one of the most interesting manifestations of contemporary art in Poland. This unique phenomenon not only has become increasingly recognizable and distinct, but also the feminist perspective no longer suffices to analyze these works.
The exhibition showcases various current artistic pursuits and endeavors: from traditional paintings, through painting projects, to painting and architectural objects. It also includes site-specific works.
It is an extensive presentation of works by women artists. Unframed painting interventions made in the corridors connecting exhibition rooms as well as on the roof patio have increased the exhibition space from around four hundred and fifty square meters to almost six hundred and fifty square meters.
The exhibition makes an attempt at depicting the phenomenon which has lately started to become a distinct convention observed in Polish contemporary art of the early 21st century. Women’s active participation in art dating back to 1980s is extremely important and undisputed, but it is only now that the men artists’ dominance in painting has been challenged. Parities that so many politicians nowadays are eager to fight for worked pretty well in the Polish art world around thirty years ago. At that time great women artists, including painters, were of course present in the global – and Polish – art scene, but they were uncommon. These days the situation is different. The last ten years in art shows that the medium of painting not only flourishes among women artists but also takes many different forms.
Over twenty artists participating in the exhibition represent a wide range of figurative painting: symbolistic, narrative and expressionistic. There are also mural paintings by Sister Michalina, discovered during the recent renovation of the Cultural Center building that formerly belonged to the convent.
This exhibition is an interdisciplinary display of possible painting forms. Of course there are certain references to the traditional painting, but these are all conscious choices. These artists deliberately refer to what is already present in art and filter it through their own experience, emotionality, sexuality and cultural awareness.
As a result, they create paintings that are different from those already known. Therefore, to read this situation correctly may not be easy, especially considering all the prejudice and still existing stereotypes, including those connected with women’s social roles.
It will be crucial then to popularize this phenomenon as a naturally developing area of contemporary art practice.
This catalog, along with the extensive illustrative materials presenting works by individual artists, is an attempt to place this unique phenomenon in the broader context of Polish and European art.
Jan Gryka
Dofinansowano ze środków Ministra Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego
