Young Polish Artists. The Discomfort of Evening at Zacheta Warsaw
Young Polish Artists under the title The Discomfort of Evening – taken from the novel of Marieke Lucas Rijneveld (b. 1991), where autor writes about emotional deficits, mourning, the end of the world associated with childhood, the eponymous discomfort – present works created mainly during the last three years (2020–2022).
From painting, which has recently enjoyed immense popularity, to drawing, sculptural installation, video, photography, ceramics, textile, performance and actions.
Young Polish Artists, born between 1985 and 2000, the include both recent debutants and those with an established position and recognised artistic practice. ‘Youth’ is a problematic and blurred category, and observing artistic phenomena through a generational lens may seem incongruent with the contemporary times, which is why age is not a defining criterion.
Skeletons, zombies, centaurs, vampires, cute boys, women with agency, migrants, cyborgs – these are just some of the protagonists of the works on display in Warsaw. The broad array of artistic statements embraces intimate stories of depression, mental health, need for intimacy and love, loneliness, among other experiences.
There is a fascination with old art and its iconography, mythologies, Slavdom, the ideas of history painting and Surrealism. Many pieces address the topic of violence – from self-inflicted to systemic, patriarchal and capitalist. Many feature irony and humour, pop-cultural fetishism, and draw inspiration from cyber futurism and posthumanism.
Other important threads include death, mourning, nihilism and reflection on the body and sexuality. The show culminates with works that borrow from the poetics of disaster, devoted to the archaeology of the future, relation between humans and nature, magic, esotericism and a quest for spirituality.
Young Polish Artists
Lena Achtelik, Agnieszka Antkowiak, Karolina Balcer, Zuzanna Bartoszek, Jan Baszak, Paweł Baśnik, Justyna Baśnik, Katarzyna Bogucka, Martyna Czech, Jagoda Dobecka, Kinga Dobosz, Eternal Engine (Jagoda Wójtowicz & Martix Navrot), Monika Falkus, Wiktor Gałka, Jakub Gliński, Zuza Golińska, Marcelina Gorczyńska, Justyna Górowska, Anna Grzymała, Veronika Hapchenko, Agata Ingarden, Karolina Jabłońska, Maja Janczar, Jan Jurczak, Maria Kniaginin-Ciszewska, Karolina Konopka, Adam Kozicki, Tomasz Kręcicki, Yulia Krivich, Hanna Krzysztofiak, Nikita Krzyżanowska, Sara Kukier, Kasper Lecnim, Diana Lelonek & Denim Szram, Kornel Leśniak, Milena Liebe, Aleksandra Liput, Michał Maliński, Piotr Marzec, Kinga Michalska, Martyna Miller, Horacy Muszyński, Małgorzata Mycek, Marta Niedbał, Øleg&Kaśka, Katarzyna Olma, Paweł Olszczyński, Oom, Monika Orpik, Karol Palczak, Zofia Pałucha, Iwo Panasiewicz, Tomek Paszkowicz, Karolina Pawelczyk, Zuza Piekoszewska, Martyna Pinkowska, Cyryl Polaczek, Filip Preis, Marta Romankiv, Patryk Różycki, Irmina Rusicka, Filip Rybkowski, Mateusz Sarzyński, Ala Savashevich, Agnieszka Sejud, Agata Słowak, Mikołaj Sobczak, Paulina Stasik, Kuba Stępień, Łukasz Stokłosa, Tytus Szabelski, Kacper Szalecki, Stach Szumski, Julia Świtaj, Ola Tubielewicz, Kamila Walendykiewicz, Wiktoria Walendzik, Sebastian Winkler, Wiktoria, Karolina Wojtas, Jan Eustachy Wolski, Julia Woronowicz, Mateusz Woś, Bartosz Zaskórski, Liliana Zeic, Konrad Żukowski
Place/ Zacheta National Gallery, Warsaw
