Tomasz Kowalski
Tomasz Kowalski, born in Szczebrzeszyn (PL) in 1984, lives and works in Warsaw. He works mainly in painting and sculpture. By rejecting objective truth and global cultural narratives, Kowalski uses everyday, recognisable elements to create an unprecedented situation in which the viewer is confronted with the conditioning of his own perception, and has to reconsider his biased position. His paintings are based on formal associations which open a unique poetic vein. Multilayered images emerge, exposing the fragility and instability of our apparently certain reality. Manipulating and confusing the viewer, he often creates several similar works, in which apparently spontaneous thoughts are manifested: notes are made and then crossed out again, “mistakes” are repeated.
Solo exhibitions
2015 Planck Time, Carlier|Gebauer, Berlin. 2014 Tomasz Kowalski, CAM – Contemporary Art Museum, St.Louis (US). Relativity Express, Gabriele Senn Galerie, Vienna. 2012 Routine Investigation, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp (BE). The Truant, Carlier|Gebauer, Berlin. 2011 Kominiarz na dachu koscio?a, Center for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw.
Group exhibitions
2014 As You Can See: Polish Art Today, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw. 2012 Circus as a Parallel Universe, Kunsthalle, Vienna. Soundworks, ICA, London. 2011 Museum der Wünsche, mumok–Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna. Genius Without Talent, De Appel, Amsterdam. Acqusitions Recentes, Centre Pompidou, Paris. 2010 Hareng Saur: James Ensor and Contemporary Art, S.M.A.K.–Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent (BE). In Dreams, Timothy Taylor Gallery, London.
Publications
Vitamin P2, New Perspectives in Painting, Phaidon Press, London 2011.
Zak Branicka Foundation (ed.), Polish!, Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern 2011.
Karola Kraus (ed.), Museum der Wünsche, exh. cat. mumok, Distanz Verlag, Berlin 2011.