Biography

The works of Dorota Podlaska often reflect her private life. An important aspect of her artistic work is its narrative character. Her preferred medium is figurative painting for which she developed a peculiar mode of presentation. The artist uses small paintings and objects to create installations. She also creates photo documentations and interventions in galleries and living spaces, and designs books and other publications. Her work has been exhibited among others at the Zacheta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw, the Centre for Contemporary Art at Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, Arsenal Gallery in Bialystok, the Centre for Contemporary Art ‘Laznia’ in Gdansk as well as in Finland, France, Italy, South Korea and Japan.

Dorota Podlaska graduated in painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts of Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun in 1989. While a student she was involved with several art groups such as Naprzód, Yach-Film where she created video art and realized happenings. In 1993 she co-founded the Water Tower Art Association in Bydgoszcz. She currently lives and works in Warsaw.

Selected individual exhibitions

2022
Why should not people show one profile at a time? Trafo/Level 4 Gallery at Mieczysław Karłowicz Philharmonic in Szczecin

2020
Splinter, Wizytujaca Galllery, Warsaw

2017
Every Journey is a New Home, Andel’s Art, Łodz

2016
Ariadna’s Thread, participatory performance at Center for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw
Call Mamma for a Dessert, participatory performance at Arte Diregible / Digestive Art, Palazzolo Akrai, Sicily

2014
A Feast for Two, performance, Monopol Gallery, Warsaw
Between Languages, Staniszów Palace, Staniszów

2013
Kunst gegen Kohle, Höherveg Ateliers 271, Dusseldorf, Germany
A Matter of taste, Austria Culture Forum, Warsaw, Poland

2012
Lost in Translation, Akiyoshidai Artists Village, Yamaguchi, Japan
Free Translation, Labirynth Gallery, Lublin
Picture Cinema, Muranow, Praha Cinema, Warsaw (6th Five Flavours Asian Film Festival, Warsaw)

2011
Lost in Translation, BWA Gallery of Art, Olsztyn/Plocka Galeria Sztuki, Plock
30 film cuts, Muranow Cinema, Warsaw
(5th Five Flavours Asian Film Festival, Warsaw)
Places and People, District Museum of Bydgoszcz, Bydgoszcz

2010
Happy Newspaper Series – Seoksu Market, SAP Art Project, Anyang, South Korea
Courtyard (Wroclaw), Entropia Gallery, Wroclaw

2009
Courtyard (Bydgoszcz, Torun), Municipal Gallery BWA – Kantorek Gallery, Bydgoszcz
Straight on, Turn Right Past the Suits, Zacheta National Gallery of Art – Kordegarda Gallery, Warsaw

2005
There and Back, Le Guern Gallery, Warsaw

2003
Hickory Dickory Dock, Entropia Gallery, Wroclaw
Head in the Clouds, One Foot on the Ground, Biala Gallery, Lublin
To Where?, Water Tower Gallery, Bydgoszcz

2002
Dorota’s Library, BWA Gallery, Zielona Gora
Earth is Flat, ON Gallery, Poznan
Beginning, End and Something in-between, exhibition during the Polish Young Art Festival, Open Studio Gallery, Krakow
Hell / Heaven, Witches’ Tower Art Gallery, Slupsk

2000
I Cry at the Movies, Centre for Contemporary Art – Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw
Happy Birthday, Dorotka, My Archives Gallery, Koszalin

1996
ore of Little Pictures, Kantorek Gallery, Bydgoszcz

1995
Letters, Painting exhibition, Mózg Gallery, Bydgoszcz

1994
Flight – Interior design, Water Tower Gallery, Bydgoszcz

1993
Textiles and painting, ‘85 Gallery, Bydgoszcz – outdoor installation on the 70th anniversary of the Leon Wyczółkowski District Museum in Bydgoszcz

1992
Exhibition of textiles, Trytony Club, Bydgoszcz
Exhibition of textiles, Arche Gallery, Museum of Archeology, Gdansk
Textiles and painting, Municipal Gallery BWA, Bydgoszcz
Enchanted Castle, exhibition of Dorota Podlaska and Stanislaw Stasiulewicz, Kantorek Gallery, Bydgoszcz

1991
Voyage. Exhibition of textiles, Sculpture Gallery BWA, Warsaw
Voyage. Exhibition of textiles, courtyard of the Voivodeship Conservation Office, Bydgoszcz

1990
Sail Power Museum. Exhibition of textiles, Kantorek Gallery, Bydgoszcz

1989
Travel. Exhibition of textiles, Author’s Gallery of Jan Kaja and Jacek Soliński, Bydgoszcz

Selected group exhibitions

2021
The Tower of Women 2, Biala Gallery, Lublin
Give Us This Day…, Arsenal Gallery, Białystok

2020
Spring in the Józef Bem Housing Estate, Arsenal Gallery, Bialystok
Closed Space. History Being Told, OdaArt, Piotrkow Trybunalski

2019
Spring (Summer, Fall, Autumn) of Nations, BWA Tarnow, Tarnow
Nature in Art, MOCAK, Cracow
Three Plagues, Labirynt Gallery, Lublin
100 Flags for the 100th Anniversary of the Election Rights of Polish Women, Central Museum of Textiles in Lodz, Lodz

2018
Vienna Contemporary, Vienna, Austria
March of 100 Flags for the 100th Anniversary of the Election Rights of Polish Women, street action, exhibition in Biuro Wystaw Gallery, Warsaw

2016
New Illustration, Arsenal Gallery, Bialystok
Daily and Festive Rituals, Arsenal Gallery, Bialystok
Call Mamma for a Dessert, Akrai Residency, Sicily

2015
Austeria, BWA Sokol, Nowy Sacz
Order out of Chaos, Le Guern Gallery, Warsaw
Prose of the City, Center for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw

2014
Adoration of Sweetness, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw
It a Bitter Taste – Polishness, BWA Gallery, Jelenia Góra
Midnight Show, BWA Gallery, Wrocław
Let’s Talk about Art and Life, LET programme, CSW Zamek Ujazdowski Warszawa

2013
Houses Silver like Tents, Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland
Frohefest, Polnish Institut, Dusseldorf, Germany
The Matter of Taste, Austria Culture Forum, Warsaw, Poland

2012
Occupy Art – Open Museum – workshops in Center for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw

2011
Beeing on the Move. Reflections on Migration, 2011, Litmus Community Space Ansan, South Korea
Collection- New Accquisitions, – Open Museum – workshops in Center for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw
It Will be Better and only Better – BWA Gallery of Art, Olsztyn

2010
Happy Newspaper Series – Seoksu Market, SAP Art Project 2010, Anyang, South Korea
The Truest Love Stories. Allegories of Love in the Contemporary Polish Art, National Museum, Szczecin
Big Up 5, Anglet, France

2009
The Truest Love Stories. Allegories of Love in the Contemporary Polish Art, District Museum of Bydgoszcz, Bydgoszcz
Gallery of Modern Art, District Museum – Red Granary, Bydgoszcz
Collections. International Collection of Contemporary Art – Centre for Contemporary Art – Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw

2008
Reisefieber, Rondo Art Gallery, Katowice
Suavity and Despair, Wozownia Gallery, Torun

2007
Come, I’ll Tell You a Story, Manhattan Gallery, Lodz

2006/2007
21st Century Painting, Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw

2006
Love Will Forgive You All, or a Short Exhibition About Love, Gallery DLA …, Torun
In Poland, What Does It Mean?, Centre for Contemporary Art – Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw
In Between, Woo Lim Gallery, Soeul (South Korea)
Nomads of Nowadays, Laznia Gallery, Gdansk

2005/2006
 Acquisitions of 2004, District Museum, Bydgoszcz

2005/2006
Merry Christmas, Arsenal Gallery, Bialystok

2005
Dorota Podlaska & The Randomroutines. Live 2005, Vasa Konsthall, Vasa (Finland)
Impulse. Contemporary Art from Poland, Polish Institute, Düsseldorf, Germany
Egocentric, Immoral, Outmoded. Contemporary Images of Artists, Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw
Regional Collection of Contemporary Art, Museum of Contemporary Art – National Museum, Szczecin

2004
 Les vents de la Drome, Bell Atelier, La Roche sur Grane (France)
Bustle II, Avant Garde Art Gallery BWA, Wroclaw/BWA, Zielona Gora

2003
Collection part II. Polish Contemporary Art from collections of Leon Wyczółkowski District Museum in Bydgoszcz, Red Granary, Bydgoszcz
Supermarket of Art, Artists‘ House Gallery, Warsaw
Odra II Oder, Tabakfabrik, Vierraden/2yk Galerie, Kunst Fabrik, Berlin/ Amfilada Gallery, Szczecin
A Woman for a Soul, Manhattan Gallery, Lodz
GARBa (art workshops), Montescaglioso (Italy)
Biennal I Maleri, Vasby Kunsthalle, Vasby (Sweden)
Habitat, National Museum, Szczecin

2002
Apator Loves Polonia, Gdanska Street, Mill Island, Bydgoszcz
GARBa (art workshops), Montescaglioso (Italy)

2001/2002
Oikos, 6th edition, Leon Wyczółkowski District Museum of Bydgoszcz, Bydgoszcz

2001
Bustle, Avant Garde Art Gallery BWA, Wroclaw
Masquerades, Centre for Contemporary Art Inner Spaces, Poznan
Apator Loves Polonia, Torun

1999
Brain in Frost, or Cold Lettuce, Mozg Gallery, Bydgoszcz
The Brain at BWA Zielona Gora, BWA, Zielona Gora
Lending a Brain, Club OdNowa, Torun
Earth, Air, Heaven, Leon Wyczółkowski District Museum of Bydgoszcz, Bydgoszcz
6th European Artists Meeting, Borne Sulinowo

2000
Construction in Process. This Earth Is a Flower, Lubostron
Lagadian Stories, Polish Sculpture Centre, Oronsko
Oreste (art workshops), Montescaglioso (Italy)

1999
‘Na Piętrze’ Gallery, Toruń

1998
Oikos, 4th edition, Leon Wyczółkowski District Museum of Bydgoszcz, Bydgoszcz
Meitheal / Together, Manorhamilton (Republic of Ireland)
3rd European Artists Meeting, Borne Sulinowo

1998
A Short Description. Painting exhibition, TPS Dworek Sierakowskich Gallery, Sopot
Pictures for the Well-behaved and the Naughty, ZPAP Okop Gallery, Olsztyn
Dorota Podlaska, Podlaska Gallery, Biala Podlaska
Women, Men and a Few Moments of Agreement Between Them, Water Tower National Art Gallery, Konin

1995
Polish Impression, a competition realized by Poland-Japan Foundation, Warsaw

1991
The Diary, Kantorek Gallery, Bydgoszcz

1990
 Painting, graphic arts, textiles, Kantorek Gallery, Bydgoszcz
The Pentagon, the exhibition of visual art of the group Yach-Film, Author‘s Gallery of Jan Kaja and Jacek Soliński, Bydgoszcz

1989
 Critics about us, BWA, Sopot
The Dungeons of Manhattan, Lodz

1988
To Every Time Its Own Art. Young Artists National Exhibition Arsenal ‘88’, Hala Gwardii, Warsaw

Awards, grants

2013
Artists Residency, Hoherweg Ateliers, Dusseldorf, Germany

2012
Artists Residency Akiyoshidai Artists Village, Yamaguchi, Japan

2010
Grant of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Poland,

Artists Residency in South Korea

2004
Grant of the Ministry of Culture, Poland,

Svenska Yrkeshogskolan, Nykarleby, Artists Residency in Finland,

Les vents de la Drome, Bell Atelier, La Roche sur Grane, Art Residency in France

2000, 2001, 2004
Oreste/GaRBA, Artists Residency, Montescaglioso, Italy

2000
Grant of the Foundation of Culture, Poland

1989, 1990, 1996, 2001
Grant of the Ministry of Culture, Poland

1998
Meitheal, Arttists Residency, Manorhamilton, Ireland

1987
First award at the First National Exhibition of Miniature Painting, Gallery 85, Bydgoszcz

Works in collections:

  • Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw
  • Museum of Warsaw Praga, Warsaw
  • Centre for Contemporary Art – Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw
  • Centre for Contemporary Art ‘Znaki Czasu‘, Torun
  • Warmia-Masuria Zachęta‘ Association for Fine Arts, Olsztyn
  • Zachęta‘ Association for Contemporary Art, Szczecin
  • Leon Wyczółkowski District Museum, Bydgoszcz
  • private owners