Previously unseen works by Polish artist to be exhibited. Foreign collectors love her

Summer is the perfect time to immerse yourself in art. DESA Unicum proposes three monographic exhibitions , which are not only an encounter with the works of exceptional artists, but also a story about Polish art of the 20th and 21st centuries. From July 2 to 26, you can see the works of Ewa Kuryluk - a precursor of photorealism in Polish art. In August, the works of Tomasz Ciecierski , the author of insightful reflections on the painting process, and Eugeniusz Eibisch - a master of color and one of the most important Kapists, will be presented.

On July 2nd at 6:00 PM DESA Unicum invites you to an open vernissage with the participation of Ewa Kuryluk, who lives in Paris.

Nomadic artist

Ewa Kuryluk is an internationally recognized artist, also valued by foreign collectors. She has created and lived in Vienna, London, and New York, among others, and currently leads her artistic life in Paris.

Her work is inextricably linked to her personal experiences – as a painter, writer, art historian and one of the forerunners of photorealism in Polish art, Kuryluk confronts the mental illness of her mother and brother, the legacy of the Holocaust and the tension hidden in family silence and pain.

She transforms these difficult experiences into intensely autobiographical forms – both visual and literary – giving suffering meaning and structure. Her artistic path can be compared to the work of Frida Kahlo – both artists used art as a tool for taming trauma, transforming pain into a consistent story about survival and identity.

An intimate autobiographical story by Ewa Kuryluk

The summer exhibition at DESA Unicum includes Kuryluk’s works from the 1960s and 1970s, including previously unseen paintings and drawings from her London period. This was a time when the artist strongly embedded her work in a personal context – the heroines of her works often have her facial features and figure, and her own body and emotions become her primary means of expression.

In her paintings, alongside encrypted suffering, there is a fascination with corporeality and the biological side of life – shown in sensual, tense relationships between two naked, defenseless people. The exhibition will also feature works from the last stage of Kuryluk's easel painting, including previously unseen works such as Three Guys and Electric Doggie.

Due to health problems related to the use of oil paints, the artist abandoned this form of expression in favor of acrylic paints, also finding a new means of expression in drawing on fabrics. These subtle installations, presented both in galleries and in the open air, became Kuryluk's trademark and opened another chapter in her artistic life.

A record of Tomasz Ciecierski's painting thinking

August will mark one year since the death of Tomasz Ciecierski – one of the most outstanding Polish contemporary painters. On this occasion, DESA Unicum is organizing the exhibition Galop. Pędz. Rytm, Obrazy i rys z roku 1976-2022 , which is a tribute to his multidimensional work. The title, taken from the texts appearing in the artist's paintings, aptly reflects the energy and rhythm of these works.

The exhibition will present over 40 paintings and drawings, showing the diversity of Ciecierski's artistic language. The artist not only created paintings - he also conducted deep reflection on the medium of painting itself. Many of his works feature the "painter's world": work tools, tubes of paint, brushes, vessels, canvases and studio, which became not only a motif, but also a starting point for reflections on the artist's identity and the material side of the creative process.

The return of the master – Eibisch at DESA Unicum

After almost two decades since the last solo presentation, DESA Unicum recalls the figure of Eugeniusz Eibisch – one of the most outstanding Polish colourists of the 20th century. The summer exhibition is not only an opportunity to rediscover his colourful paintings, but also a chance to look at the artist's lesser-known works – drawings made in ink, pen and pencil, from an Italian private collection.

Eibisch, although associated with the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków and already recognized in the 1920s in Paris, was an artist with a deeply European perspective. In his paintings we can find echoes of both the Mediterranean light of Calabria and Sicily, as well as the influences of Cézanne and the École de Paris. Although he became famous mainly as a master of still life, he also left behind exceptional landscapes and portraits, including those presented at DESA Unicum: “Sailboats in the Bay” and “Portrait of Franciszka’s Wife”.

All exhibitions can be viewed free of charge at DESA Unicum at ul. Piękna 1A in Warsaw in the following order:

Ewa Kuryluk. In the footsteps of myself. Warsaw - Vienna - London - from July 2 to 26 Tomasz Ciecierski. Gallop. Drive. Rhythm - from July 29 to August 23 Eugeniusz Eibisch. Italian journey - from August 4 to 22