Alex Urban
Alex Urban
b. 1978, lives and works in Wrocław (PL).
Graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław. Urban works primarily in painting, sculpture and photography. Her ease in broaching topics of corporeality, sexuality and religion is evident in her tendency towards coarse associations and vulgar jokes. Her works are full of peculiar characters and phantoms that are eternally ambiguous. Urban often uses the convention of kitsch and refers to the realm of the sacred to create her characteristic imagery. The bright palette she uses breaks down the reality of what might otherwise by seen as banal scenes that play out on her canvases. These vivid colours, brought in from the phantasmagorical imagery of pop culture, take on a certain toxicity in her imagery.
Exhibitions
Exhibitions
2024
– Nostalgia. Malerei aus Vilnius und Wrocław, Goldwerk Galerie, Rostock, DE
2023
– And in the Wilderness, BWA Warszawa, PL
– Your Gaze Strikes the Side of My Face, Mieszkanie Geppertów, Wroclaw, PL
– La Mansarde d'Emilie, LETO, Warsaw, PL
– Farewell Cucumber Time, LETO, Warsaw, PL
– PSIZM 2, LETO, Warsaw, PL
– She Devil, Wałbrzyska Galeria Sztuki BWA, Wałbrzych, PL (solo)
2022
– Jest brzydko i dalej tak będzie, Centrum Promocji Kultury Gallery, Warsaw, PL
– Anastazja and Gryzelda, LETO, Warsaw, PL
– Woman Art Power, Mazowieckie Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej Elektrownia, Radom, PL
– Matka, Foksal Gallery, Warsaw, PL (solo)
– Visibility, nowa art space & Festiwal Góry Literatury, Nowa Ruda, PL
– PLAVALAGUNA, LETO, Warsaw, PL
2021
– Souls, Shefter Gallery, Crakow, PL
– Animals in Warsaw. On the Trail of Relationships, Museum of Warsaw, PL
– Po nitce do kłębka, The City Gallery in Wroclaw, PL
2020
– Pathways to Interpretation. Supplement, Art Transparent Foundation, Wroclaw, PL
– We Are Terrible, BWA Olsztyn, PL
2019
– Plait, LETO, Warsaw, PL (solo)
– Harry Potter & Devilish Oxfords, Pharmacy Museum, Wrocław, PL
– Przemieszczanie, Museum of the City of Kraków, Kraków, PL
– Paint, also knows as Blood, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, PL
– Freedoms, Cosmopolitan, Warsaw, PL
– Palace of Art, National Museum in Gdańsk, PL
– Tar, Contemporary Art Gallery, Opole, PL (solo)
2018
– Wild at Heart, Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, PL
– Madam, Can You Check If There Are Any Dreams Tangled in My Hair?, Baltic Gallery of Contemporary Art, Słupsk, PL
– Nietota (The-What-Is-Not), Wrocław Contemporary Museum, Wrocław, PL
– Chodzi lisek koło nogi, Fosfor Gallery, Kraków, PL
– Nietota (The-What-Is-Not), Municipal Gallery BWA, Białystok, PL
2017
– From Artificial Reality to a Selfie, BWA Wrocław, PL
– L.O.Q.M, Cellar Gallery, Kraków, PL
– 10 Summer Afterimages, LETO, Warsaw, PL
– Biennale de La Biche, Guadeloupe, GP
2016
– Becoming our Mind, III Metavera Art Festival, Katowice, PL
– pfff..., LETO, Warsaw, PL (solo)
– Destinesia, Stephen Romano Gallery, Nowy Jork, US
– Sztuczny miód, Galeria Extravagance, Sosnowieckie Centrum Kultury, Sosnowiec, PL (solo)
2015
– Facehole, BWA Kielce, PL (solo)
– Paradoks czasu, Muzeum w Sosnowcu, PL
– Dio Horia in Mykonos, Dio Horia, Mykonos, GR
– Pupile, Centre for Arts, Poznań, PL
– Garden, ArtBrussels 2015, Brussels, BE
– Dziewczyny mówią tak myślą nie, City Museum of Wrocław, PL (solo)
– Crowd Pleasers, Platán Galéria, Budapest, HU
2014
– Miasto — stan zapalny, 12. Przegląd Sztuki Survival, Wrocław, PL
– People Are Strange, BWA Olsztyn, PL
– Collage, Ptapty, Poznań, PL
– Złoty wiek. Kolekcja Vinyl Canvas, Design Gallery – BWA Wrocław, PL
– Urodziny Galerii U, Galeria U, Wrocław, PL
2013
– Within the World – The World Within, Landskrona Art Gallery, Landskrona, SE
– Creative Way, BWA, Kielce, PL
– Urwisy, Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej Solvay, Kraków, PL
– Derealizm, Galeria Miejska, Wrocław, PL
– No Happy End, Galeria Sztuki w Legnicy, Legnica, PL (solo)
– Creative Way, Galeria Sztuki w Legnicy, Legnica, PL
2012
– At the tip of the tongue, LETO, Warsaw, PL (solo)
– Garden, LETO, Warsaw, PL
– Dirty hands, Wozownia, Toruń, PL
– Apoptoza, BWA Studio, Wrocław, PL
– Fox hole, BWA Studio, Wrocław, PL
– Abre alas, A Gentil Carioca, Rio de Janeiro, BR
2011
– Dark corner, EC Gallery, Chicago, US
– Exchange of gifts, Wrocław Contemporary Museum, Wrocław, PL
– And now the bad news, Gallery U, Wrocław, PL
2010
– Mind Games, Gallery Bestregarts, Frankfurt, DE
– Don't even think about it, Leto Gallery, Warszawa, PL
– Dark Hole, BWA Karkonosze, Jelenia Gora, PL (solo)
– The head in bath, Ikona Gallery, Lodz, PL
– Dzika Banda, Magazyn Praga, Warsaw, PL
– Young Polish Paintings, Hugenottenhalle-Neu-Isenburg, DE
2009
– Fractured Fairy Tales, LetoGallery, Warsaw, PL (solo)
– Young Polish Paintings, Bestregarts, Frankfurt am Mein, DE
– Flowers on the attic, Geppert's Apartment Gallery, Wroclaw, PL (solo)
2008
– Oj!-say little bear, Art Agenda Nova, Krakow, PL (solo)
– Poison fruits, Moa, Poznan, PL (solo)
– Wonderland, Geppert Appartment, Wroclaw, PL (solo)
– Double Check, Leto Gallery, Warsaw, PL
2007
– Quadro Art International Picture Biennale, Lodz, PL
– Edinburgh Art Festival, Art Space Gallery, UK
2006
– Pro Figura, Rostock, DE
– Gardens, Painting Biennale, BWA Walbrzych, PL
– Promotions, BWA Legnica, PL
2004
– Biennale Fisheye 3, Slupsk, PL