Pola Dwurnik

Queen of Painting after The Hardwick Portrait of Elizabeth I of England, 2018, oil on canvas, 210x150 cm

(Polski) Niespodzianka,

Painter, 2007, oil on canvas, 150x210 cm

School of Smoking or A Concert in a Cave (From left: Pola Dwurnik, Teresa Gierzyńska, Dorota Wnuk, Slawomir Elsner with his dog Gruna, Daniela Pfeil, Tomasz Kowalski), 2009, oil on canvas, 150x210 cm

Take-Off or Nirvana, 2007, oil on canvas, 150x210 cm

Fireworks, 2010, oil on canvas, 150x210 cm

Before the Orgy, 2012, oil on canvas, 150x210 cm (painting dedicated to A. Zaucha and P. Klossowski)

September from the Apolonia’s 12 Husbands Series, 2016, oil on canvas, 116x89 cm

April from the Apolonia’s 12 Husbands Series, 2017, oil on canvas, 116x89 cm

Pola Dwurnik is an established artist based in Warsaw. She has been working mainly with oil painting, various drawing media and collage as well as a self-publishing artist and editor.

Pola Dwurnik examines identity caught in the conflict between the inner emotional and the external image, finding a new strength of expression in the confines of a figural representation. One of her major interests is the relationship between humans and animals. A mixture of fear and fascination close to obsession fills her paintings, as Dwurnik refers to various cultural contexts, literature and art history, yet creates a distinctive new language with echoes of decorative tapestry. In drawings Dwurnik oscillates between simplistic cartoon style, live quick sketches and realistic, complex compositions. She reflects on contemporary reality and its social and private spheres. Most of her drawing series tell true stories about the artist’s own life and the art world.

Pola Dwurnik’s paintings and drawings have been shown at group and solo exhibitions, including at the Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw, Centre of Polish Sculpture in Orońsko, MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow, Trafostacja Sztuki in Szczecin, BWA galleries in Tarnów, Kalisz, Jelenia Góra, Zielona Góra and Nowy Sącz, Arsenal Gallery in Białystok, HAU2 in Berlin, MAXXI National Museum of 21^st Century Arts in Rome, Krasnoye Znamya Cultural Centre in St. Petersburg, and many others.

Pola Dwurnik’s works are in the collections of the National Museum in Gdańsk, MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow, Wrocław Contemporary Museum in Wrocław, POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw and in private collections around the world.