Karolina Jaklewicz
Gallery
Vita
Graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, Department of Painting and Sculpture.
Completed studies in painting under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Stanisław Kortyka, and in designing painting in architecture under Prof. Wojciech Kaniowski.
Currently works as a lecturer at the Institute of Painting, Drawing, and Sculpture in the Faculty of Architecture at the Wrocław University of Science and Technology.
1995-2000
2000-2003
2012
State Academy of Fine Arts in Szczecin.
Studied Fine Arts at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, majoring in Art Education with a specialization in Multimedia.
Earned a doctoral degree at her alma mater.
Credo
"Form is merely an expression of content." — Wassily Kandinsky
Following Wassily Kandinsky’s motto, I would like to highlight how I have chosen geometric solutions: I strive to use geometry as a language that expresses not only form but also content. In my work, I consistently seek solutions that do not make geometry merely an analytical or intellectual exercise, but rather allow me to breathe emotional, personal, and metaphysical aspects into geometric shapes and surfaces. I feel an inner need for geometry — for me, it is a way to universalize personal experiences and observations, providing a sense of distance and discretion. It is a universal language, yet it can still be individually appropriated.
A straight line represents a longing for spatial organization — including mental or inner experiences. In relation to the hyperactive reality in which I live, geometry helps me create the illusion of harmony. In geometric painting, I also appreciate the possibility of a pure message, one that conveys the essence of the idea. I see the geometry of a painting as a kind of algorithm — geometry draws from the idea of an element to elevate it onto the square. While geometry in real life defines boundaries, in painting it opens them.
All my artistic assumptions are viewed as a relationship between what is natural and what is human-made, between rational and emotional, planned and accidental. This relationship is sometimes a struggle, sometimes an attempt at coexistence, sometimes mutual support. In nature, I am fascinated by scattering phenomena such as fog, light, clouds, smoothness, and glare. In human activities, I admire intellectual achievements — hence architectural inspiration; emotions — hence solid personification; and verbal sensitivity — hence poetic inspiration. All these concerns are connected to geometry, expressed as personally as possible.
Laudatio
The departure from the notion that a painted image is a representation of visible reality or its interpretation, and the focus on the painting as an independent reality, leads to Concrete Art. In the works of Karolina Jaklewicz, we see nothing that points to the visible world. The simple and restrained visual elements operate on a surface that, through subtle, seamless shading, soon acquires a sense of space. Shadows appear like echoes, with soft contours. These visual impressions are most comparable to music, which in its own abstraction can also evoke strong emotional moments.
However, on closer inspection, Karolina Jaklewicz’s painting is not purely Concrete Art. The playful element predominates even in her more formally strict works. On a light background, narrow black rectangles are arranged, often relating to the image format, the edges, and corners, occasionally condensing into signs. The shorter side of each rectangle remains constant, while the longer side varies. Sometimes a black rectangle is so long that one wonders whether it is still part of the painting or divides it into two parts. There are diagonal crosses, as well as crosses reminiscent of the Christian symbol, which are composed of visual elements and then deconstructed — or is it the other way around?
It becomes clear to the viewer that, whether playful or formal, Jaklewicz pushes boundaries. She employs an extremely reduced vocabulary of geometric language, a language that can itself illustrate abstractions such as numbers and relations. Furthermore, the “signs” — as I would call the narrow rectangles — are treated as if they were objects that cast shadows or appear blurry themselves. This disorientation has a growing allure, evoking thoughts of farewells or even death. Occasionally, a series of images appears like still frames of a cinematic sequence, suggesting inner movement.
This brings to mind some of the artist’s exhibition titles, such as “Metaphysics of Geometry”, “Painful Geometry”, or “Anamorphosis of Personality / Separation”, where anamorphosis refers to a transformation that occurs under extreme viewing angles or reflections.
Laudatio by Reinhard Fritz, 1995–2011, President and Board Member of the Neue Gruppe, BBK, and jury member; involved in organizing major exhibitions at the Haus der Kunst, Munich.
Exhibitions
Exhibitions
2017
2016
2015–16
2015
2015
2014
2013
2011
2011
2010
2007
2006
2005
2005
2004
2004
2003
2001
2001
Consequences, Association of Polish Artists, Pryzmat Gallery, Kraków
Re:construction, Buchbund, Berlin
Warm/Cold, City Museum of Wrocław
Metaphysics of Geometry, City Art Gallery, Legnica
Reserve, Art Centrum Fabryka Trzciny, Warsaw
North, Socato Art Gallery, Wrocław
The Act of Space / Verte, Promotion Gallery, Warsaw
Painting, Town Gallery, Częstochowa
Anamorphosis of Separation, Socato Art Gallery, Wrocław
Painful Geometry, Farbiarnia Gallery, Warsaw
Geometry - intellect's emotions, Academy of Fine Arts, Wroclaw
Nonobjective space, Brama Gallery, Gryfice
Act of space II, Przed Aula Gallery, Academy of Fine Arts, Wroclaw
Ostrow Tumski - painting in architecture - visualizations, Przed Aula Gallery, Academy of Fine Art, Wroclaw
Street space, exhibition 209 Gallery, Academy of Fine Arts, Wroclaw
Opening, Bertelmann's Mediateka, Wroclaw
Act of space, Bene Est Gallery, Szczecin
Around love - graphics and illustrations ("Love" by Inga Iwasiow), Club of XIII Muses, Szczecin
Mine - drawing, 207 Gallery, Academy of Fine Arts, Wroclaw
Group Exhibitions
2019
2017
2017
2017
2017
2016
2016
2016
2016
2016
2016
2016
2016
2015
2015
2015
2015
2015
2014
2013
2013
2012
2012
2011–12
2010
2010
2010
2010
2009
2009
2009
2008
2008
2007
2007
2007
2006
2005
2005
2005
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
STORIES Frauen Power UNTERWEGS, Polish Exhibition Center Munich, Germany
Light and geometry, Galeria Delfiny, after XXXV plain-air for Artist Using Geometry Language, Warsaw
Space of architectur, space of art, Museum of Architecture, Wrocław
Order and expresion, House of Literatury, Łódź
Common bodies, Socato Art Gallery, Wrocław
25 Festival of Polish Contemporary Painting, Pomeranian Duke's Castle, Szczecin
Historia przyszłości, Muzeum Pana Tadeusza, Ossolineum, Wrocław
IV Autumn Confrontation Triennials of Contemporary Painting, BWA Gallery, Rzeszow
Przestrzeń sztuki / przestrzeń architektury_I, Centrum Kultury Zamek, Wrocław
Przestrzeń sztuki / przestrzeń architektury_II, City Musem of Wroclaw
Sztuka i wartości ponadczasowe, XXXIV Międzynarodowy Plener Artystów Posługujących się Językiem Geometrii, Galeria Delfiny, Warszawa
Grid, Galeria XS, Uniwersity of Jan Kochanowsky, Kilece
Grid, Galeria XS, Uniwersity of Jan Kochanowsky, Kilece
Imperatyw tworzenia, XXXII after XXX symposium for Artist Using Geometry Language, “Elektrownia” Masovian Center of Contemporary Art, Radom
Faktura, struktura, metafizyka, z cyklu Przestrzeń architektury. Przestrzeń sztuki Muzeum Architektury, Wrocław
Bielska Jesień 2015, 42 Biennale Malarstwa, Galeria Bielska BWA, Bielsko-Biała
Forma i nieprzedstawialne, after XXX symposium for Artist Using Geometry Language, “Elektrownia” Masovian Center of Contemporary Art, Radom
LEAN - the discipline image, Socato Art Gallery, Wroclaw
Planetary system, City Gallery, Wroclaw
Unplugged, Socato Art Gallery, Wroclaw
What is art today?, after XXX plain-air for Artist Using Geometry Language, “Elektrownia” Masovian Center of Contemporary Art, Radom
Festival of Polish Contemporary Painting, Szczecin
What is art today, XX1 Gallery, Warsaw
Made in Poland: Berlin - Norymberg - Hipoltstein - Bielefeld - Rapperswil - Geneva, Germany
Architecture of landscape, Museum of Architecture, Wroclaw
National Competition of Marian Michalik, Czestochowa
Autumn Confrontation, Biennale of Contemporary Painting, Rzeszow
23 Festival of Contemporary Painting, Szczecin
Silence of Monochromes, BWA Gallery, Lublin
Junge Polnische Malerei - Kunst aus Niederschlesien - Dresden, Wiesbaden, Nuremberg, Aachen
NORD ART - International Exhibition of Contemporary Art, Karlsruhe
5 International Biennale of Miniatures, Center of Culture Promotion, Czestochowa
Festival of Polish Contemporary Painting, Pomeranian Duke's Castle, Szczecin
Autumn Confrontation Triennials of Contemporary Painting, BWA Gallery, Rzeszow
III National Competition of Marian Michalik for Painting for Young Painters, Town Gallery, Czestochowa
Graduates 2007, BWA Wroclaw – graduation exhibition
Drawings from prof. Stanislaw Kortyka's atelier, Nowy Sacz
Youth in BWA, Studio BWA Gallery, Wroclaw
Painting of the year 2004 - competition finale, Krolikarnia Palace, Warsaw
Samsung Art Master II - competition finale, Old Orange House, Warsaw
Biennale of Small Paining Form, Wozownia Gallery, Torun
Self-portrait II, Wieza Cisnien, Bydgoszcz
Self-portrait, Wozownia Gallery, Torun
Diploma 2000, PLSP, Szczecin
Gazeta Wyborcza's competition's finale Szczecin on photos, IP Szczecin
City of Szczecin's Scholars exhibition – Foyer Gallery of Opera and Operettas in Szczecin
Grants, Awards, Selected Works/Projects
2007
2007
2006/07
2005
2004
Prize of Marshall of Lower Silesian Voivodeship for the Best Diploma
Honorable Mention on III National Competition of Marian Michalik in the category of Painting for Young Painters
Scholarship of Minister of Culture and National Heritage
Project and realization of wall painting in Holy Spirit's Church, Wroclaw
I place in logo for Meadiateka contest, Wroclaw