Young Art in Sopot
Karolina Stanisławska
Paulina Brol
As in the previous year, we are pleased to invite you to familiarize yourself with our new summer offer of works by young Polish artists in the coming days. On 13th August, at the Sofitel Grand Sopot hotel, you will be presented with a carefully selected collection of works by the most interesting artists of the younger generation. Especially those whose works appears more rarely on the market but whose creative output constitutes a remarkably interesting part of young art. Klaudia Światczak-Pjanka, Denys Molerio Pena, Szymon Poloczek, Marcin Tomaszewski, Izabela Gałązka, Sara Winkler are among the artists in question.
The August Young Art Auction stands out for its distinctive variety of artwork. Along with the aforementioned artists, the Sopot auction will also include works by some of the most well-known figures in contemporary art: Katarzyna Chmiel, Adam Wątor, Mirella Stern, Agnieszka Zabrodzka, Katarzyna Orońska, and Grzegorz Klimek. In addition, the upcoming auction is going to feature works by completely new creators. Newly minted graduates of Polish academies that are worthy of particular attention include, among others, Hanna Parchańska, Kornel Kowalski, and Katarzyna Lembryk.
Hanna Parchańska graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice. The artist's works address issues of shame, struggling with oneself, and fear of success. In her paintings, layers of acrylic paint, spray, and markers reveal flashy colors, symbols, and words, resembling a chaotic diary. Parchańska's style can be characterized as a synthesis of post-expressionism, naive art, and a little bit of ignorant art. She makes paintings about herself and her emotions, using the motifs of the end of the world, flames, and smiling faces. Without a doubt, such examples of non-conformity reinvigorate the established pattern with fresh energy.
Kornel Kowalski obtained his diploma from the Faculty of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. His diploma series was recognized as one of the most successful debuts in 2018. It consisted of five large-format canvases titled "Niewidzialne"/"Invisible". One of Kowalski's greatest successes has been selling one of his diploma works to the permanent collection of the National Museum in Gdańsk. At the Sopot auction, you will have the opportunity to see one of his characteristic abstract works, referring to his diploma series.
In her images, Sara Winkler attempts to reconstruct and deal with her childhood memories. The artist herself emphasizes that: “The purpose of the reconstruction is not to render the factual events from the past, but to illustrate how these events appear in my imagination. Elements such as toy souvenirs and darkened room interiors are an impulse for retrospection. Childhood memories are made up of complete emptiness, oblivion, and ‘flashes', which are moments remembered with the smallest detail. The way in which memories take shape-a collision of remembering and oblivion-had an impact on the composition of paintings. I construct them using the principle of contrasts: dominating darkness and shards of light; dense paint and bright glaze; as well as sharp, geometric shapes and rounded, soft forms." The style of the images is oneiric, it accurately depicts the idea of the painter and remains in a coherent relationship with the very painting. Sara Winkler is a graduate of painting at the University of Arts in Poznań. She participated in the Competition for the Best Diplomas of the Academy of Fine Arts in the Great Armoury in Gdańsk.
Katarzyna Lembryk graduated from the Faculty of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice. She is a finalist in two prestigious competitions as well, including the Rybie Oko 8th Biennale of Young Art in 2015, organized by the Baltic Gallery of Contemporary Art, and the Franciszka Eibisch Grand Prix in 2017. The creative output of Katarzyna Lembryk illustrates the contemporary landscape. The artist started with a modern village landscape, making it devoid of its idyllicity and adding elements of modern architecture and agricultural machinery. Currently, the artist deconstructs the traditional landscape, creating new forms of space perception, which is feasible thanks to her travels, both physically and through the use of Google Maps. The landscapes are depicted with "errors" that are generated by virtual reality. In her paintings, Lembryk reflects on the changes that these "mistakes" bring to human awareness and perception of the environment. Moving to the virtual world, where space is apparent, illusory, and not entirely subject to the logic of vision, disturbs the established cognitive model.
We invite you to view the aforementioned works live from 3–6 August at our Warsaw headquarters at Piękna 1A, and from 8–13 August at the Sofitel Grand Hotel in Sopot. We encourage you to take part in the pre-bidding via our mobile application and to participate in the auction in person or via broadcast on our website. Please join us in Sopot on Saturday, 13th August!