Tomasz Kowalski
Tomasz Kowalski was born in 1984 in Szczebrzeszyn. Studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków (2004-2009). He is the winner of the Guerlain Foundation Drawing Award (2014).
His paintings, sculptures and music capture the diffusion of a centreless world and the ways in which such conditions impact our perceptions of basic categories, such as selfhood, space and time. His works suggest a conception of society where sleep, introspection, dreaming and wakefulness are equally present. They assert the unconscious as a liberating force – at once in and out of this world.
Works and lives in Warsaw.
Works in collections
Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR
MUMOK – Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna, AT
Frac des Pays de la Loire, Nantes, FR
Olbricht Collection, Berlin, DE
Boros Collection, Berlin, DE
MOCAK – Museum for Contemporary Art in Kraków, PL
The ING Polish Art Foundation Collection, Warsaw, PL
solo exhibitions
2021
- 15 Orient, New York, US
- Foam City, Swallow, Vilnius, LT
- Delirious Szczebrzeszyn, Dawid Radziszewski, Warsaw, PL
2020
- Ghost, Actor, Thing, Dawid Radziszewski, Warsaw, PL
2018
- Release of Everlasting Somersault, Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles, US
- New Vehicle, Galerie Tobias Naehring, Leibzig, DE
- Proto Weather, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp, BE
- Natty Dread (with Alicja Kowalska), Condo, Arcadia Missa, London, UK
2017
- A Man Moves Out of a Skeleton, Clark House Initiative, Mumbai, IN
- Golden Ladder, Dawid Radziszewski, Warsaw, PL
- Eliksir / Myriad Examples, Bureau Audio, New York, NY, US
2015
- Djinn, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp, BE
- Planck Time, carlier | gebauer, Berlin, DE
2014
- Tomasz Kowalski, CAM, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (MO), US
- Relativity Express, Gabriele Senn Galerie, Wien, AT
2013
- Paintings and Assemblages, Dawid Radziszewski, Warsaw, PL
- Untitled, carlier | gebauer, Berlin, DE
2012
- The Truant, carlier | gebauer, Berlin, DE
- Routine investigation, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp, BE
2011
- A chimney sweeper on the church roof, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, PL
- Duet (with Agnieszka Polska), Goldex Poldex, Krakow, PL
2010
- Sen, Gabriele Senn Galerie, Vienna, AT
- Powrót przodka, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp, BE
- Pokaz, Kronika Gallery, Bytom, PL
2009
- Nightseeing (feat. Norman Leto), Centre of Contemporary Art Znaki Czasu, Torun, PL
- Gniazdo, Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, DE
- carlier | gebauer, Berlin, DE
2008
- Art Kabinett, Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami, FL, US, carlier | gebauer, Berlin, DE
- Piosenka, Pies Gallery, Poznan, PL
- BWA Zielona Gora, Zielona Gora, PL
2007
- Zak Gallery, Berlin, DE
2006
- Człowiek bez właściwości, Nova Gallery, Kraków, PL
group exhibitions
2021
- Baltic Triennial 14 “The Endless Frontier”, CAC Vilnius, LT
- Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin, DE
- Konteksty: Kongres Postartystyczny, Sokołowsko, PL
2020
- 5 Year Anniversary, Nino Mier, Los Angeles, US
- Enjoy and Take Care!, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp, BE
- In Exile, Huis Henk Visch, Eindhoven, NL
- Duch natury i inne bajki. 20-lecie Fundacji Sztuki Polskiej ING, Silesian Museum, Katowice, PL
- Entertainment Through Absence, Gabriele Senn Galerie, Vienna, AT
2019
- Views 2019 Deutche Bank Award, Zacheta – National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, PL
- Drowning in a Sea of Data, La Casa Encendida, Madrid, ES
- Rock Paper Scissors, Gabriele Senn Galerie, Vienna, AT
- The Last Waltz (For Leon), Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp, BE
2018
- Autofictions, Wilhelm Hack Museum, Ludwigshafen, DE
- Ordination, organized by Sophie Tappeiner, Vienna, AT
- Bureau_Audio hour, Mathew Gallery, New York, US
- Fool’s prophecy, Museum of Icons – Museum of the Warsaw Orthodox Metropolis, Warsaw, PL
- Weeping, Dreaming, Fucking, Laughing, Wschód Gallery, Warsaw, PL
- Wild At Heart, Zachęta – National Art Gallery, Warsaw, PL
- One Long Changing Body, carlier | gebauer, Berlin, DE
2017
- The tenth anniversary of the Contemporary Drawing Prize of the Fondation d’art contemporain Daniel & Florence Guerlain, Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR
- In Paper We Trust, The Dot Project, London, UK
2016
- Szalona Galeria, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, PL
- Parallel Vienna 2016 – Parallel Vienna, Vienna, AT
- Objects Do Things, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, PL
2015
- Very Long Fingers, Simone Subal Gallery, New York, US
- Procedures for The Head, Kunsthalle Bratislava, Bratislava, SK
- I hear your voice reflected in a glass and it sounds like it is inside of me, carlier | gebauer, Berlin, DE
- For Me Abstraction is Real, Boccanera Arte Contemporanea, Trento, IT
- Run For The Roses, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp, BE
- Escape and Return, Dawid Radziszewski, Warsaw, PL
2014
- Painting, Poetry, Pottery, Tobias Naehring Galerie, Leipzig, DE
- Gelatin: Paint Me, Paint Me Everywhere, Contemporary Art Gallery Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow, PL
- The Night of the Great Season, La Kunsthalle Mulhouse, Moulhouse Cedex, FR
- As You Can See: Polish Art Today, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, PL
- Hoch Hinaus!, Museum Neuer Wiener Kunstverein, Vienna, AT
- The Lamp of Memory, Valentines Mansion, London, UK
2013
- British British Polish Polish. Art from Europe’s Edges in the long 90s and Today, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, PL
- Everything and More, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp, BE
- Yellowing of the Lunar Consciousness, Galleria Massimodeluca, Venice, IT
2012
- Soundworks, ICA, London, UK
- The Castle in the Air. Séance of Imagination, Zamek Culture Centre, Poznan, PL
- Circus as a Parallel Universe, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, AT
- Air de Pologne, De Garage, Mechelen, BE
2011
- Genius Without Talent, De Appel, Amsterdam, NL
- Museum der Wunsche/Museum of Desires, MUMOK – Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna, AT
- Acquisitions récentes : D’Antonin Artaud à Tatiana Trouvé, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, FR
2010
- Hareng Saur: Ensor and Contemporary Art, S.M.A.K. Ghent, BE
- Public Private Painting, Mu.ZEE, Oostende, BE
- In Dreams, Timothy Taylor Gallery, London, UK
- Przeklenstwa Wyobrazni/The Curse of Imagination, Contemporary Art Gallery Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow, PL
- Small Improvisation, Stadtgalerie Kiel, Kiel, DE
- Passion Fruits, Sammlung Olbricht, me Collectors Room Berlin, Berlin, DE
2009
- Le Coeur est un Chasseur Solitaire, Gare Saint-Sauver, Lille, FR
- Crotla presents, Lothringer13, Stadtische Kunsthalle München, Munich, DE
- Blue Almost White, ING Polish Arts Foundation/Leto Gallery, Warsaw, PL
- Hell of things, Kronika Gallery, Bytom, PL
2008
- Ballady i Romanse, Raster Gallery, Warsaw, PL
- Establishment (and its discontents), Center for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, PL
- Wyprzedaz Teatru, BWA Arsenal, Bialystok, PL
2007
- The Ship of Fools, Studio Angeletti, Rome, IT
- Small is Beautiful, Ursula Blickle Foundation, Kraichtal Unterowisheim, DE
- 16 things, which may have not been found, Artpol, Krakow, PL
- João Laia, In Tomasz Kowalski’s Psychedelic Paintings, Sleep, Dreaming and Wakefulness are Equally Present, frieze, 2018
- Interview with Tomasz Kowalski, by Joanna Zielińska, Flash Art, 2016
- Blinds and Mirrors, interview with Jordan Casteel, Tomasz Kowalski, and Birgit Megerle, by Martha Kirszenbaum, Flash Art, 2015
- Jurriaan Benschop, Tomasz Kowalski (review), Artforum, 2012
- Ardel Pennell, Opening of Tomasz Kowalski and Anna Orlikowska, Whitehot Magazine, 2007
- Azorro, Wojciech Bąkowski, Ewelina Chrzanowska, Jos de Gruyter & Harald Thys, Rafał Jakubowicz, Łukasz Jastrubczak, Tomasz Kowalski, Agnieszka Polska, Pimpek, Wilhelm Sasnal, Paweł Sysiak, Barbara Szelwach, Tobias Zielony, ca. 200912.02-02.04.2022
- Tomasz Kowalski, Delirious Szczebrzeszyn29.05–17.07.2021
- Tomasz Kowalski, Ghost, Actor, Thing17.01-22.02.2020
- Alicja Kowalska, Tomasz Kowalski, CONDO13.01—10.02.2018
- Tomasz Kowalski, Golden Ladder21.09—27.09.2017
- Mihut Boscu Kafchin, Łukasz Jastrubczak, Tomasz Kowalski, Marcin Zarzeka, Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others29.09—31.10.2015
- Jan Dobkowski, Gelitin, Tomasz Kowalski, Agnieszka Polska, Piotr Urbaniec, Escape and Return01.01—14.02.2015
- Tomasz Kowalski, Paintings and Assemblages27.09—26.10.2013