Agata Bogacka
Agata Bogacka. Photo: Michał Polak. Courtesy the artist and Gunia Nowik Gallery
Painter, born in 1976 in Warsaw. After she graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw in 2001, she quickly became known for her highly stylized, synthetic, figurative paintings – "a painterly diary of mental states” in which she noted down emotions and feelings she had for her near and dear ones. Over time, her paintings evolved and direct references to reality or fragments of reality became increasingly abstract. Her most recent works are based on configuration of planes with the use of tonal transition. The gradient she uses symbolizes blurring and setting the boundaries, while directly referencing complex relations existing between people. These relations can be understood more broadly, include various modes of coexistence: political, social, oppressive, or conciliatory. She lives and works in Warsaw.
Exhibitions
Solo exhibitions:
2025
Equality Lack, Ujazdowski Castle, Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, Poland
2024
Conflict Enabler, Municipal Gallery Arsenal, Poznań, Poland
2023
Stories of Lasting (with Iza Tarasewicz), Gunia Nowik Gallery, Warsaw, Poland
2022
System of Divisions, Museum Jerke, Recklinghausen, Germany
Fields of Conflict, Edel Assanti, London, UK
Inequality, Gunia Nowik Gallery, Warsaw, Poland
2021
Divided View, BWA Tarnów, Poland
2020
Demonstration of Pictures, Pola Magnetyczne, Warsaw, Poland
Compositions of Dependencies, Glassyard, Budapest, Hungary
2019
The Law of Balance, Svit, Prague, Czech Republic
2018
Relationship, Pola Magnetyczne, Warsaw, Poland
2017
Paintings, Galeria Dawid Radziszewski, Warsaw, Poland
Crowd, BWA Zielona Góra, Poland
2014
The Egg, Instituto Buena Bista, Curacao, Country of Curaçao
2012
Paintings, Ring Gallery, Legnica, Poland
2011
Topos, PGS Sopot, Poland
Diaries, Aando Fine Art, Berlin, Germany
Diaries, Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland
2009
Plan of the Journey, Arsenal Gallery, Bialystok, Poland
Returns, BWA Zielona Góra, Poland
The Walk, Platan Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
2007
Second Half of Heart, Potocka Gallery, Cracow, Poland
2006
Heart, Raster Gallery, Warsaw, Poland
2005
Did You Love Me?, Galerie Meyer Kainer, Vienna, Austria
2004
Et si je te faisais traverser le pont?, Espace Croise, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Roubaix, France
2003
Art of Beautiful Artists (with Anna Baumgart), independent city space, Warsaw, Poland
Come with me / Komm mit mir, Polnishes Institut, Berlin, Germany
I’m Bleeding, Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, Poland
Selected group exhibitions:
2025
Wojciech Fibak's collection. New generation, Mazovian Centre for Contemporary Art Elektrownia, Radom, Poland
Lushness. Women’s Art in the 21st Century, National Museum of Art, Chișinău, Moldova
The Impermanent. Four Takes on the Collection, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, Poland
Don't Ask About Poland. From the Collection of Katarzyna Szafrańska and Wojciech Szafrański, Centre of Contemporary Art in Toruń, Poland
2024
We Want the Whole Life. Feminisms in Polish Art, State Gallery of Art, Sopot, Poland
Testimony, Neues Museum Nürnberg, Germany
Seeing with the Body. Galeria Studio Collection, Galeria Studio, Warsaw, Poland
2023
Contemporary Myths and Artifacts, Coulisse Gallery, Torsgatan 22, Stockholm, Sweden
Who is Janina Węgrzynowska?, Municipal Gallery BWA, Bydgoszcz, Poland
Who is Janina Węgrzynowska?, Galeria Studio, Warsaw, Poland
2022
Controlfriction, City Art Centre (MOS) in Gorzów Wielkopolski, Poland
Kinds of Love, Gunia Nowik Gallery, Warsaw, Poland
Our Heritage — Selection from the Balázs-Denés Collection, aqb Project Space, Budapest, Hungary
2021
Do You Realise There is a Rainbow Even if it’s Night? The Collection of MSN in Warsaw at MOS in Gorzów Wielkopolski, City Art Centre (MOS) in Gorzów Wielkopolski, Poland
*** TOWARDS FREEDOM. Polish Art of the 20th and 21st Century. Works from the collection of Werner Jerke, Państwowa Galeria Sztuki, Sopot, Poland
Instant Archives. Instant and Instax in Poland, National Museum in Gdańsk, Poland
When Society Meets Art / When Art Meets Society. Parallel reactions on the border from here and beyond, aqb Project Space, Budapest, Hungary
2020
Cherries, Arsenal Gallery, Białystok, Poland
&I<3U2, Studio Gallery, Warsaw, Poland
2019
Paint Also Known as Blood. Women, Affect and Desire in Contemporary Painting, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Poland
BODY WORKS, PGS Sopot, Poland
First World Problems: Life Before Death, Fundacja Stefana Gierowskiego, Warsaw; Rondo Sztuki, Katowice, Poland
Happiness is Born in the Guts, Municipal Gallery Arsenał, Poznań, Poland
Metamorphosis, Pola Magnetyczne, Warsaw, Poland
2018
Great Sarmatians of this Country, BWA Tarnów, Poland
2015
Dr Werner Jerke Collection. The Selection, Atlas Sztuki, Łódź, Poland
2014
Nightlife Archives. 6th Warsaw Under Construction Festival, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Poland
The Day is not Enough (Few Autobiographical Stories), Municipal Gallery Arsenał, Poznań; BWA Sokół, Nowy Sącz; BWA Kielce; Cultural Centre, Białystok, Poland
2013
Caution! Things May Appear Different Than They Are, Auf AEG Halle, Nurnberg, Germany
The Day is not Enough (Few Autobiographical Stories), Wrocław Contemporary Museum; BWA Jelenia Góra, Poland
Painters of Illustrations, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Poland
2012
Broken Movie, Awangarda Gallery – BWA Wrocław, Poland
2010
Fitting in Space, Zico House, 98Weeks Research Project Space, Beirut, Lebanon
The Last Film, Raster Gallery, Warsaw, Poland
2009
Fancy Success, Bunkier Sztuki, Cracow, Poland
2008
Red Eye Effect. Polish Photography of the 21st Century, Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, Poland
2007
Wann immer vorerst. Collection of the Bank Austria Creditanstalt, Kunstforum, Vienna, Austria
Woman about Woman, Galeria Bielska BWA, Bielsko-Biała, Poland
2006
Polish Painting of the XXI Century, Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland
2005
Egocentric, Immoral, Outmoded. Contemporary Images of Artists, Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland
2004
Beauty or Painting Effects, Galeria Bielska BWA, Bielsko-Biała, Poland
Blind Date, Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, Poland
Distances?, Le Plateau / FRAC Île-de-France, Paris, France
2003
5th National Young Painters Exhibition, Awangarda Gallery – BWA Wrocław, Poland
2002
The Young are Realists, Really, Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, Poland
Other
Publications:
Agata Bogacka. Paintings 2016–2022, ed. Gunia Nowik, 77 Press Philip Niedenthal and Gunia Nowik Gallery, Warsaw 2023
Agata Bogacka, ed. Łukasz Gorczyca, Państwowa Galeria Sztuki w Sopocie, Sopot 2012
Agata Bogacka. Diaries, ed. Joanna Kordjak, Zachęta – Narodowa Galeria Sztuki, Warszawa 2011
Selected collections:
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź, National Museum in Gdańsk, The Bank Austria Creditanstalt, The ING Polish Art Foundation, Museum Jerke, Jankilevitsch Collection, ASOM Collection, Galeria Studio Collection