Artist name: Radek Szlaga
Dates of residency: Sept – Nov
Born: 1979
Hometown: Gliwice, Poland
Lives and works: Warsaw, Poland / Detroit, USA
URL: http://radek-szlaga.tumblr.com
Education: PhD in Painting, University of Art, Poznan, Poland, 2011; MFA (with honors) Painting Faculty, Academy of Fine Arts, Poznan, Poland, 2005; Scholarship at the Academy of Fine Arts In Prague, Czech Republic, 2004.
BIO/ STATEMENT:
Painter, author of sculptures and objects, Radek Szlaga defines himself as a teller of stories of a new generation emerging from the ruins of longstanding conflicts and identities such as modernism, rock, structuralism, colonialism. The artist is a witness of these irrevocable changes. Divided between an anthropological need for mythical narrations and the disruptive forces of contemporary visuality, Szlaga has developed a hyper-textual language that questions the relationship between the traditional medium of painting and the possibilities of digital media. His paintings are characterized by a free style, bold treatment of colours, sophisticated primitivisation of form blending different styles and themes.
Szlaga is the co-founder of the Penerstwo art group. Amongst others, he worked at White Cube Gallery in London as Tracey Emin’s assistant. He is also illustrator for Tempo.mgz and Pornoffiti magazine and currently works at the Poznań Academy of Fine Arts as Junior Lecturer in the studio of Wojciech Łazarczyk.
Radek Szlaga has exhibited internationally including PERFORMA 13 (2013), and
Recent exhibitions include: 2015, Recent All The Brutes, Harlan Levey Project, Brussels; 2015, State of Life. Polish Contemporary Art Within a Global Circumstance, National Art Museum of China, Beijing; 2015, The Heart, Galerie Laure Roynette, Paris; 2015, Cannibalism? On Appropriation in Art, Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, Warsaw; 2014, Show with a Lovely Title, Leto Gallery, Warsaw; 2014, Primary Images, ArtBrussels 2014, Brussels;2010, VILNIUS PAINTING TRIENNIAL Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius, Lithuania.
GALLERY :
Leto Gallery, Warsaw, Poland
SELECT PERMANENT COLLECTIONA:
CCA Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, Poland
ING Collection, Warsaw, Poland
SUPPORT:
Radek Szlaga’s 3-months residency is made possible with support from Młoda Polska / Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
