Currently...
 
 

MALGORZATA MARKIEWICZ (b. 1979 in Krakow, Poland) employs various media in her works, which include objects, re-worked ready-mades (as in the series Flowers), photographs, actions based on everyday activities associated with women (The Cobweb, The Dressing Gowns), and video works (including sui generis documentaries, as in the series Abandoned). She explores physical, bodily presence as mediated by observation, processing, and the search for meaning. Markiewicz weaves the inherent tensions in seemingly unambiguous objects or activities to create complex messages. She confronts the viewer with disconcerting, even embarrassing, images and situations – as the familiar is made unfamiliar, and the commonplace rendered disturbing, a process similar to Brechtean Alienation is encouraged.


Cobweb, 2003, object-installation

Her field of work includes design, broadly understood. She designs untypical clothes and furniture – places to meet others. Fabric, textiles and clothes are among the materials commonly used by Markiewicz, often placed in contrast with other objects. Incorporated in a work, the used clothes re-animate the essence of the previous owner. She treats the tradition of art textiles in a surprising and humorous way. Turning it inside out, she creates a very intimate and personal kind of art. Her works are concerned with such aspects of everyday life as home, family, the dull daily bustle, needle-work – which are all considered “feminine” in our culture – but also the broader issues of sexual identity and social position. The techniques of sewing, crocheting and weaving – transferred from everyday life – become basic and equal artistic media. In her latest project, prepared especially for a solo exhibition at the Bunkier Sztuki in Krakow (Transformations, March 2007), the artist departed from her usual artistic practice to work with concrete, fresco, and photography. This time her works concern the processes of constant change – the looped cycle of births, growing, reaching maturity, affluence, decline, death, and birth. They refer to the idea of five seasons as expressed in the Chinese Law of Five Changes.

Malgorzata Markiewicz received her degree from the Faculty of Sculpture (studio of Medial Actions) at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow in 2004. She has been a co-author of the feminist Internet project grzenda.pl (since 2003). She was awarded a scholarship by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (2004) and was an artist-in-residence at HIAP, Cable Factory, Finland, as part of the A-I-R Laboratory program of the Centre for Contemporary Art “Zamek Ujazdowski” (2006). The artist lives and works in Krakow, Poland, and is represented by the Program Gallery in Warsaw. Focusing on feminist issues, Markiewicz’s work has been shown extensively in Poland as well as in the UK, Italy, Germany, Finland, Belgium, and Canada. Markiewicz is 2007 SPACES World Artists Program resident in Cleveland.


We Are Born Delicate and Fragile, 2007, fresco at the exhibition Transformations, Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow


Fragility Has a Singular Beauty, Transformations, 2007, photography; The Loss of Softness Causes a Living Death, 2007, object at the exhibition Transformations, Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow

INSTALLATIONS


In the happening in the Goethe Institut's courtyard, Krakow, old clothes were placed in neat piles between cold stone columns to produce the game Warm-Cold (2004). In 100% Recycling (Lille, France) and The Piece of Coexistence Net (Krakow, 2004), the relationship between cloth and objects is developed to include real people and refer to the unbreakable, elaborate chain in which people live. Clothes are also used in the artist's works, Flowers (2004) and Abandoned (2005).



The Piece of Coexistence Net, 2004, installation, Bunkier Sztuki



Warm Cold, 2004, installation, Goethe Institut, Krakow, Poland

PHOTOGRAPHY


 

Flowers began in 2004 as a spatial activity in which women's clothes were re-worked into objects resembling floral shapes. After wearing each item, the artist takes it off and re-works it herself. The pieces in Flowers serve both as art objects and as over-aestheticized photographs and light-boxes.



Flowers, 2005, photography, dibond, plexi 90 x 90 cm


In Abandoned, 2006, a series of small-format photographs document pieces of clothes found in the street. An image-trail of a previous existence, they refer to their past function. The clothes produce a strange mosaic of unheard stories in the frame of small, intimate photographs.


from cycle Abandoned, 2006, photography, alu. board, 15x20 cm, edition 1


from cycle Abandoned, 2006, photography, alu. board, 15x20 cm, edition 1

 

OBJECTS


A pair – a universal element of life – symbolizes relationships, particularly between people. Pairs and pairings are important recurring subjects in Markiewicz’s art. Relations between people are evident in The Piece of Coexistence Net, and in Warm-Cold (2004), which highlights different social groups. In White-Grey Dress (2004) the binary of festive/mundane is explored, while 100% Recycling engages with the binary past/future. I Was Here sought to leave a trace of the artist’s presence in a studio where she had spent several months of her scholarship in Helsinki. In this piece “Hi, I was here” is embroidered on the towels and an outline of her figure has been loosely stitched on the bed sheet. The work Pairs (2006) is a simple depiction of relationships. The pairs are made up from single gloves found by the artist. Male and female, expensive and cheap, manufactured and hand-made, the once single, but now coupled gloves mirror the various pairings formed in our world.


White-Grey Dress, 2004, dress, object



Pairs/Couples, 2006, objects, ready made, plexi-glass box


Circle Skirt, 2005, 180 x 180 cm

See also:

§         Fragility Has a Singular Beauty. Beata Nowacka-Kardzis talks to Malgorzata Markiewicz. The interview is featured in the catalogue for the exhibition by Malgorzata Markiewicz, Transformations (Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow, March 7-25, 2007).

§         Malgorzata Mleczko, Transformations

MALGORZATA MARKIEWICZ – RESUME

Lives and works in Krakow, Poland

EDUCATION

1999 - 2004 Fine Arts Academy in Krakow, Poland, Honors Degree in Sculpture

SCHOLARSHIPS

2004 Scholarship of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Poland

2004 Scholarship of the Polish Culture Foundation, for the project “Breathe”

RESIDENCIES

2007 SPACES Cleveland, Ohio, USA

2006 HIAP, Cable Factory, Helsinki, Finland

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2006 “Embroideries, Lace-works, Flowers”, The Artists' Colony, Gdansk, Poland

2006 “Antifestival”, Kopio, Finland

2006 “Bunkier's Collection”, Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow, Poland

2006 “Beelden Buiten”, Tielt, Belgium

2006 HIAP Studios Opening Exhibition, Cable Factory, Helsinki, Finland

2006 “Her Portrait (Un)faithful”, Manhattan Gallery, Lodz, Poland

2006 “Woman's Life”, Polish Institute, Leipzig, Germany

2005 “Time of Culture”, Program Gallery, Warsaw; Arsenal Gallery, Poznan, Poland

2005 “Old Cities, New Art”, Quebec, Canada

2005 “Polkolore”, Kuenstlerhaus Stuttgart, Germany

2005 “Memory (W)hole”, Lubljana Castle, Slovenia

2005 Kowalska, Markiewicz, Simon – Potocka Gallery, Krakow, Poland

2005 “Beauty – Painterly Effects”, BWA Gallery, Zielona Gora, Poland

2004 “Beauty – Painterly Effects”, BWA Gallery, Bielsko Biala; Awangarda Gallery, Wroclaw, Poland

2004 “Biennale of the Young”, Centre for Polish Sculpture, Oronsko, Poland

2004 “Nature of/and Art”, Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow, Poland

2004 “Young Art – Watchful”, Lille, France and Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow, Poland

2004 “Breathe”, action in public space, part of “Women's Day” project, Krakow, Poland

2004 “Primate”, BWA Gallery, Zielona Gora, Poland

2004 “Boys and Girls”, Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland

2002 “Novart.pl”, Krakow, Poland

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2007 “Abandoned”, Turf Gallery, London

2007 “Transformations”, Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow, Poland

2007 “Malignancies”, Program Gallery, Warsaw, Poland

2006 “Exhibition of Fabric Stained with Embroidery” Manhattan Gallery, Lodz, Poland

2006 “Flowers”, Studio Stefania Miscetti, Rome, Italy

2005 “Flowers”, Open Studio, Krakow, Poland

2004 “Warm – Cold”, Goethe Institute, Krakow, Poland

2003 “Yellow Motive Project”, action in public space, Krakow, Poland

2003 “Duvet”, Lokal Gallery, Krakow, Poland

2003 “Cob Web”, Potocka Gallery, Krakow, Poland

SELECTED FESTIVALS AND ART FAIRS

2006 “Scope” Art Fair, London, UK

2006 “Art Cologne” Art Fair, Cologne, Germany

2006 “Kunst Zurich”, Art Fair, Zurich, Switzerland

2006 “Vienna Fair”, Art Fair, Vienna, Austria

2006 “Arte Ffiera 2006”, Art Fair, Bologna, Italy

2005 H.O.M.E. Depot – Festival of Young Designers, Vienna, Austria

2002 “Underground Performance” Festival, Budapest, Hungary

2002 RESET, Media Arts Festival, Krakow, Poland

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

2005 Pawel Kraus, O miescie kobiet i duchach przeszlości (On the city of women and the spirits of the past) Grafia 2/3(11/12)

2005 Beata Seweryn, Kwiat mojego sekretu (The flower of my secret), www.raster.art.pl

2005 Ewa Laczynska, Marta Lisok, Warstwa posrednia, czyli o eksperymentach z ubran (The in-between layer, or the experiments with clothes), www.rzeczy.art.pl

2005 Magdalena Ujma, Kwiaty zamiast jablka (Flowers instead of an apple) www.bunkier.com

2004 Joanna Zielinska, Artystka jako matka zona i kochanka (The artist as a mother, a wife and a lover), Joanna Zielinska Zadra 1/2004

2003 Magdalena Ujma, Kobiety atakuja (Women attack), Mgdalena Ujma, Opcje 3/2003

SELECTED CATALOGUES

2007 “Transformations”, individual catalogue, Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow, Poland

2007 “Malgorzata Markiewicz, Works 2004-2007”, Program Gallery, Warsaw, Poland

2004 “Primate”, BWA Gallery Zielona Gora, Poland

2004 “Beauty – Painterly Effects”, BWA Gallery Bielsko Biala, Poland

2004 “Nature of/and Art”, Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow, Poland

2004 “Young Art – Watchful”, Lille, France

2004 “Boys and Girls”, Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland
2003 Malgorzata Markiewicz, individual catalogue, Potocka Gallery, Krakow, Poland

 

Proudly sponsored by LOT Polish Airlines.

350 Fifth Ave, Suite 4621, New York, NY 10118 tel.(212) 239-7300, fax (212) 239-7577