Barbara Strykowska

born 20 Aug 1982 in Biłgoraj
Member of STRUPEK Group since 2007.
Co-organizer and participant in artistic actions of the group (http://www.strupek-microart.blogspot.com).
STRUPEK are young artists from Cracow, active in new curating, implanting art in isolated zones and marginal areas. They deal with the process of adapting art to the needs of a new, spontaneous recipient.

Education

1997-2002 Bernard Morand State Secondary School of Arts in Zamość
2003-2005 Student of the Institute of Artistic Education, Marie Curie University in Lublin, Department of Painting
2005-2010 Student of the Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow, Faculty of Painting
Diploma – prof. Leszek Misiak’s studio

ACHIEVEMENTS

Individual exhibitions
2010 – “Mud Pie”, curator: Wojciech Szymański, Zbiornik Kultury, Cracow, Poland

Collective exhibitions (selected)
2011 – “KINDERSPIELE”, curator: Wojciech Szymański, Zbiornik Kultury, Cracow, Poland
2010 – “Point, Line, Surface”, exhibition of drawings, PWST, Cracow, Poland
2009 – “Microart 1:10”, painting exhibition “Loads of Happiness” by STRUPEK Group, Art Boom Hejnał Expedition Art Festival Minsk 2009, Belarus, Banbury, UK
2009 – “Jeune Création Européenne – New Talents on the European Art Scene“, Paris, France
2009 – “Food Flavour”, drawing exhibition of dr Bogusława Bortnik’s studio, Morajdy, Farina Restaurant, Cracow, Poland
2009 – Collective exhibition of prof. Leszek Misiak’s studio, German Consulate, Cracow, Poland
2008 – “Microart 1:10”, exhibition by STRUPEK Group, Podzemka Gallery, Minsk, Belarus
2008 – “Master and Disciples”, collective exhibition of prof. Leszek Misiak’s studio, Tarnowskie Góry, Poland
2008 – “Firing Ground” project by STRUPEK Group, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, Poland
2007 – “Exhibits of Offence”, collective exhibition, MCK, Ostowiec Świętokrzyski, Poland

Designs

2011 – “Mini Manual CC”, design of a game, published by Bunkier Sztuki, Cracow
2010 – POKA POKA, design of an envelope, Cracow, Warsaw

Projects and exhibitions with STRUPEK Group

2008 – “Firing Ground” (collaboration and participation)
•          March 2008 – project tested in city space, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski
•          5 April 2008 – end of the project, Uwaga Schody Gallery, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski
Project prepared in co-operation with Nie z Tej Bajki Association and MCK in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski.
2008 – “Microart 1:10” (collaboration and participation)
•          27 June 2008 – opening of the first gallery of the project, exhibition by STRUPEK Group members, Podzemka Gallery, Minsk, Belarus
•          7 January 2009 – opening of a “microart 1:10” gallery, solo exhibition by Paweł Żugaj, Culture Centre, Rogachev, Belarus
•          12 May 2009 – opening of a “microart 1:10” gallery, exhibition of contemporary Ukrainian art, curator: Alina Zazymko (Ukraine), Jubilat Department Store, Cracow, Poland
Project prepared in co-operation with Ha!art Corporation and Bunkier Sztuki. Co-financed from Cracow’s municipal budget. Street art exhibitions accompanied the project.
•          August 2009 – “Loads of Happiness” exhibition by STRUPEK Group, organizer: Anais Malusecci, Banbury, UK
The group received a distinction and support for extending the “microart 1:10” project to Ukrainian museums in a curatorial competition organized by the Eidos Foundation in Kiev, Ukraine.
October 2009 – STRUPEK in the Artworld Corporation
- “Brand New Art – Is Art Gone for the Economy?”, exhibition inaugurating the artworld™ corporation
January-June 2010 – WALPAPIER K27 (collaboration and participation)
A street weekly in Cracow’s public space, next to the Institute of Culture.
Weekly issues of the magazine could be found for the duration of six months (January-June) on display at 7 Karmelicka Street.
The WALPAPIER Magazine featured:
STRUPEK Group, Robert Kuta, Tomasz Baran, Justyna Koeke, Xawery Wolski and Maciej Pachota, Expedition Art Festival Amazonas 2009 – ArtBoom Tauron Festival, Artur Wabik, Marta Sala and Irena Kalicka, Karol Radziszewski, Art World - Rahim Blak, Art Revolt, Jakub Woynarowski, Władysław Matlęga, The Krasnals, Barbara Strykowska, Ryszard Górecki, Tęsknię za Tobą Żydzie by Rafał Betlejewski, Michał Korchowiec , Mateusz Okoński
In June 2010, STRUPEK gave the mailbook “I used to show it when I was little but now I’m a bit embarrassed” to the Art Agenda Nova collection.

RESERVOIR OF CULTURE PROJECT (collaboration)

Project supported by the Małopolski Institute of Culture. It included:
16 July 2010 – “At Last” exhibition, curator: Mateusz Okoński, artists: Dorota Hadrian, Norman Leto, The Krasnals, Benjamin Sabatier, Patryk Tylec, Mateusz Okoński
23 July 2010 – “There Will Be No Other End of the World”, exhibition of Władysław Matlęga’s paintings from the collection of Zbigniew Sałaj, Mieczysław Górowski and Mateusz Okoński, curator: Anna Zabdyrska
30 July 2010 – “Mud Pie”, Barbara Strykowska’s exhibition, curator: Wojciech Szymański
6 August 2010 – “The Twelve Girls I Loved”, Artur Wabik’s exhibition
13 August 2010 – “QUADRATUM NIGRUM”, curators: Mateusz Okoński, Jakub Woynarowski, Jakub Skoczek
20-26 August 2010 – “ANTONISZOFOBIOLOGIA X7”, festival devoted to Julian Józef Antonisz, co-organized with SPIRALA Group, courtesy of Malwina and Sabina Antoniszczak
27 August 2010 – “STILLLEBEN”, exhibition of Krzysztof Mężyk’s painting
3 September 2010 – opening of the festival “ABC PALESTINE”, Joanna Rajkowska’s exhibition of photographs and films: “Camping Jenin”, “Demolition”
10 September 2010 – “Animalia” opening and exhibition, artists: Irena Kalicka, Aleksandra Lewandowska, Marta Sala, Aleksandra Wojciechowska, curator: Wojciech Szymański
24 September 2010 – Mateusz Okoński’s “Purification”, sculpture in public space (Kurlandzki Boulevard)

For details, see blog: www.zbiornikkultury.blogspot.com

Barbara Strykowska is not only an individual artist, she is also involved in stimulating the creative activities of her generation. A member of the Strupek group, she organizes miniature exhibitions for hire and runs the Art Reservoire – a gallery and meeting place of artistic circles which has been operating for a year now in the post-industrial space of Cracow’s former Miraculum factory. This is where the artist’s first bigger individual exhibition was held. Entitled “Mud Cake”, it was organized in co-operation with a young curator, Wojtek Szymański. In the sterile surroundings, the artist-curator duo arranged a “holiday” installation composed of small, intimate works on paper and carton (and occasionally also watercolour and linocut) styled as a diary, as well as paintings-collages that formed cycles presenting empty interiors and their details. Inconspicuous at first sight, on closer inspection the exhibits surprised with surrealist appliqués. As Szymański wrote in his curatorial text, which looked like a holiday postcard, “some say that Basia paints bourgeois interiors, focusing on paintings from living-room walls with their red sofas and wallpaper patterns. Kuba would probably say that Basia has got tired of reality. (…) Indeed, the pictures are very small and their size reflects the significance of their themes. But it is also true that strange and disturbing things take place in them. (…) Basia is interested in what is on the other side, hidden, invisible, cut in two and pasted back. She is perfectly aware that the world of fact which we love so much is the insubstantial matter of dreams, that what is crucial hides behind the wall, underneath the canvas and the wallpaper. Hence the three-dimensional images resembling doll houses, with holes overlooking a different reality. Basia knows that what often lurks behind the nicely patterned wall are not-so-nice fellows. She also knows how to show the concealed world on the two dimensions of the canvas.” In my view, the artist’s most interesting works are the white sheets showing the bourgeois secrets of the interiors. White and Baroque-like, created by adding more and more white layers of decorative elements, they resemble the sculptures of Maria Pinińska-Bereś, who tried to process the masochistic conditions of female sexuality, attempting to find a recipe for ecstasy. Strykowska’s canvases may not directly bear this connotation, but they hide a similar secret. They are not a directly sexual narrative, yet if we accept the understanding of Baroque suggested by Jacques Lacan, they are saturated with it. They are not starting points for fantastic stories either, as seen in the works of slightly older artists “tired of reality” – Ziółkowski or Kowalski, even though they do contain similar meta-painting elements.

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