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Artist Profile
Karolina Jabłońska
Karolina Jabłońska, born 1991 in Niedomice. Lives and works in Kraków.
Jabłońska studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków (2010—2015). Residencies and fellowships include Scholarship in Vysoká škola uměleckoprůmyslová v Praze UMPRUM (2014—2015), LIA Programme Residency, Spinnerei Leipzig (2018), Fern Residency, Brussels (2021), Fores Project Residency, London (2022).
Deeply felt and keenly observed, Karolina Jabłońska’s paintings often depict everyday situations that capture the awkwardness of certain common activities. As the artist has put it, “the paintings come from small sensory and emotional impressions.” Yet, the personal is also political: metaphors for emotional states, inherent in these paintings are references to the role of women, the existential threat to their bodies and restrictions imposed by political realities.
Monumental depictions of faces—a striking portrayal of her own features that has come to function as a stand-in for the artist but also for a more generalized alter ego—suggest strong emotions but also evoke a visceral response in the viewer. Pairing dramatically distorted points of view and expressive color, the works have an immediacy that is leavened by art historical painterly references and a distinct dry wit.
Selected solo exhibitions include: Karolina Jabłońska. Preserves. Works from 2023-2024, State Gallery of Art, Sopot (2024); How to be invisible, Esther Schipper, Berlin (2024); Dinner, Piana Gallery Foundation, Kraków (2023); No rest for the weary, Steve Turner Gallery, Los Angeles (2021).
Institutional group exhibitions include: Mainly for Women, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah (2021); Sensation: Closer to the people, Kunstverein Schattendorf (2019); Paint also known as Blood, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw (2019); Dziewczyna czy tygrys / Girl or tiger, BWA Gallery, Gorzów Wielkopolski (2017).
Institutional exhibitions as part of the artist group Potencja include Potencja – Humoral Theory: Quattro Stagioni, Galeria Bielska BWA, Bielsko-Biała (2022); Potencja – Humoral Theory, BWA Zielona Góra (2021).
Her work is held in the following collections: BY ART MATTERS, Hangzhou; Grażyna Kulczyk Collection, Mbank Collection, Warsaw; X Museum, Beijing; Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw; Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig (MdbK); National Museum, Gdańsk; The ING Polish Art Foundation and the Steffen Hildebrand Collection/G2 Kunsthalle, Leipzig.