Art Gallery in Zlin (Chech Republic)
Vernissage: 27 July, 2017

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This summer, the Art Collection of Galeria Bielska BWA Gallery visits the Czech Republic. The exhibition entitled Through the Looking Glass, which is composed of seventy paintings created
since 2000, was presented in May in the Regional Gallery of Art in Igława (Oblastní galerie Vysočina v Jihlavě), and in August and September it comes to Zlina, in Krajské galleries výtvarného umění, as an exhibition accompanying a major review of contemporary Czech art called Nový zlínský salon 2017. This year the salon considers the question: What is a contemporary painting?. The collection from Bielsko-Biała addresses the question by providing paintings by Polish artists.

The exhibition presents a part of the gallery's Art Collection, focusing on painting created after 2000. Galeria Bielska BWA is famous for the promotion of this artistic genre, primarily through the Painting Biennale ‘Bielska Jesień'. Held uninterruptedly since 1962, the competition gives viewers a unique opportunity to see all the latest developments in contemporary painting. The Art Collection is made up primarily of award winning works, especially those competing in the ‘Bielska Jesień'.
The motifs selected for the exhibition follow the main theme, which on the one hand, alludes to the famous novel by Lewis Carroll and its surrealist references, and on the other, invokes the notion of a mirror as a symbolic portrait or self-portrait. This idea is reflected by the act of presenting local work of art in a neighbouring country in an attempt to see and understand what drives young people across the border. The artists presenting their work at the exhibition belong to the generation born in the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s, with a few notable exceptions of older masters born in the ‘50s and ‘60s.
Their paintings reflect such areas as the human body, feelings, gender, rituals, creativity, consumption, transcendence, and universe. These are mostly figurative multicoloured paintings punctuated by a number of abstract works.
Participants: Tamara Berdowska, Beata Ewa Białecka, Rafał Borcz, Andrzej Cisowski, Martyna Czech, Jan Dziaczkowski, Michał Gątarek, Bożena Grzyb-Jarodzka, Paweł Hajncel, Bartłomiej Jarmoliński, Paweł Jarodzki, Ewa Juszkiewicz, Bartosz Kokosiński, Dominika Kowynia, Tomasz Kręcicki, Robert Maciejuk, Jarosław Modzelewski, Paweł Matyszewski, Małgorzata Rozenau, Wilhelm Sasnal, Ewa Skaper, Leon Tarasewicz, Jerzy Truszkowski, Andrzej Wasilewski, Karolina Zdunek and others.
In addition to a few dozen paintings, there is a video installation of Sławomir Rumiak featured as a counterpoint for traditional oil techniques on canvas.

Agata Smalcerz, curator

A selection of works from Galeria Bielska BWA has already been shown in a number of Polish art galleries. These include: The Palace Chapel in Koszęcin (Place for Art, 2015), Manhattan Gallery in Łódź (Idea-framework of Existence, 2013), Teatr Sztuk, Art Sector in Jaworzno (the cycle Art. Transit, 2012).

Visit the vernissage at the art gallery in Zlin on 27 July