Justyna Smoleń was born in 1988. She is a visual artist, living and working in Krakow. In 2013 she graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, achieving her MA in Painting. In 2020 she received her PhD title.
Smoleń creates paintings, spatial objects, sculptures and porcelain collages. Her area of creative interests are the phenomena of nature, the study of human relations with nature and mythology. In her artistic work, she is interested in the concept of a fragment as a field of creative inspiration. Often her paintings are based on the language of minimalist abstraction, which uses the material properties of paint to build the character of the work, the starting point of which is a fragment of natural space that organically grows in many directions. These images try to visually present the void as well as the endless multitude of visions in one object. Smoleń draws attention to the variability of the interpretation of the work of art and the individual perception of the work by the viewer. Her creative method is also based on the deconstruction of found objects, on the basis of which she creates new, hybrid artistic qualities, deconstructing their meanings.
Justyna Smolen’s works are in the museum collections of Zacheta Wroclaw.
Education:
2014 – 2017 The Pedagogical University of Krakow, Phd Degree
2008 – 2013 Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, Poland. MA Degree in Painting
Selected solo exhibition:
2020
Read the forms, Grey House Gallery, Krakow
2016
SOON_30, Widnokręgi, Spectra Art Space, Warsaw
Widnokręgi, BWA Sokół Gallery, Nowy Sącz
2015
Lack, BWA Snok Gallery, Sanok
Zamęt, Socato Gallery, Wrocław
2014
The sea, Sandhofer Gallery, Salzbourg
2012
AIR-PLANE, Foundation for the Promotion of Contemporary Art, Warsaw
Selected Group exhibition:
2021
without lashes, CracowArtWeek KRAKERS, Krakow
ENLIVENING, Pilipczuk Gallery, Copenhagen
2020
Utopia Spaces of Closure, Transporter Kultury, online exhibition
Opening the Foundation, Kadenówka Residence House, Rabka Zdrój
2019
Flogiston, ASP Painting Gallery, Krakow
Starting point, Biala Gallery, Centrum, NCK, Krakow
Changing views, Halle WERFT 77, Dusseldorf
Weltschmerz, BWA Wroclaw, PL
Nature in art, MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow
Motus, Pawilon Wyspianskiego, Krakow
2018
Deal, Potencja Gallery, WGW, Warsaw
UTOPIA. No-place, High5, Krakow
2017
Leszek Misiak and students, NCK, Krakow
NOPROBLEM, Potencja Gallery, Krakow
XY- XY – Újgenerációs lengyel-magyar festészet, MODEM Centre for Modern and Contemporary Arts, Debreczyn
Triangel, Polish Institute in Dusseldorf, SITTart Galerie Dusseldorf, Kulturforum Alte Post Neuss
Jego białe pióra, oświecone słońcem, błyszczały jak samo słońce; Henryk Gallery, Krakow
2016
Morze, MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow
Polish start. Art Capital 2016, Ferenczy Múzeumi Centrum, Szentendre
PMS Świeża Krew, Wroclaw Contemporary Museum
CUBE, Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow
Co słychać w Nowym Sączu?, BWA Sokół Gallery, Nowy Sącz
2015
2th International Art Competition CONTEMPORARY LANDSCAPE, City Art Gllery, Czestochowa
Doctorspiele, ArtZona, Krakow
SPOJRZENIA. 01.O zanikaniu wspomnień, Kunst Raum Weissenohe, Oberfranken
2014
REST-ART-WORK, Wawrzynca 19, Krakow
5th Marian Michalik’s Competition for the Painting of Young Painters, Painting Triennial, City Art Gallery in Czestochowa
Young Polish Art, Museu Nogueira da Silva, Braga
Art and Technology. PI SYMPOSIUM, Theatre du Crochetan Monthey
2013
Promotion, 23 Polish Young Art Review, Legnica
Imaginary Landscapes 2, Museum of Contemporary Art, MOCA, Taipei
The 41st Painting Biennale Bielska Jesień 2013, BWA Bielsko-Biala
BETRETEN VERBOTEN, Culture Transporter Foundation, Quelle, Nuremberg
Still Nature, Soho Factory, Warsaw
New Painting/New View, UA Gallery, Poznan; BWA, Gorzow Wielkopolski
2012
Naturystki, Contemporary Art Center Solvay, Krakow
New Painting/New View, UA Gallery, Poznan
Awards:
honorary mention, 2th International Art Competition CONTEMPORARY LANDSCAPE, Częstochowa, 2015
Grand Prix, IV Art Contest Świeża Krew, Socato Gallery, Wroclaw, 2014
Grand Prix, Zdarzenia, X -Józef Szajna International Festival, Tczew, 2009
Scholarship:
Artistic Scholarship of Krakow City, 2017
Scholarship of The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, 2015
Henry T. Doren’s art scholarship, Krakow, 2012
