Jerzy Skolimowski – Paintings

Jerzy Skolimowski – Paintings

While the international film festival BERLINALE is taking place in Berlin, we and the Polish Institute Berlin are showing the double exhibition JERZY SKOLIMOWSKI – PAINTINGS in cooperation with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.

The old master of Polish film Jerzy Skolimowski is known to cineastes all over the world – just mention titles like “Essential Killing” with Vincent Gallo and Emmanuelle Seigner or the recently released film “EO”, which is nominated for the Oscar 2023 in the category “Best International Feature Film”. Jerzy Skolimowski is 85 years old and has been in the film business for more than 50 years. A living legend, he is celebrated with standing ovations at the major film festivals in Venice, Berlin or Cannes.

With a wink, he explains his success in cinema with his lack of success as a painter. Although his painted pictures are less well-known than his filmed ones, Skolimowski’s work in this field is neither new nor accidental. He opened his first exhibition in 1996 at the Weber Gallery in Turin – and all the works shown there were sold. Jack Nicholson also has genuine Skolimowskis in his collection. The painter’s career took a turning point in 1997 when he decided to paint in large formats – first on wood, then on canvas and in increasingly larger formats until they almost reached the size of a cinema screen: 3 x 5 metres.

He describes creating images as an endless struggle. In interviews, he emphasises that he can paint with anything he finds around him. He often creates his abstract works as large-scale improvisations inspired by random situations. Although Skolimowski’s painting process is repeatedly associated with performances, the artist categorically distinguishes between creating moving and static images.

Skolimowski’s paintings have been exhibited in Los Angeles, Wrocław and Warsaw. The most recent solo exhibition dealt with the threats to the modern world and its ecological situation. In doing so, he intervenes in the discussions about the climate catastrophe. Picture titles alone such as “Agony”, “Decay of the Blue”, “Border Landscape” or “Acid Rain” testify to his concern about the state of our planet, which Skolimowski immortalises on the canvases with painterly expression.

Whatever artistic means Jerzy Skolimowski chooses – he always does it masterfully. But the most important thing for any artist can above all be given to him by painting, as he says himself: “In painting I can get away with anything.”

Curator: Marcin Fedisz

Organisers: Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Polish Institute Berlin, Gallery Opera – Grand Theatre of the National Opera Warsaw, nüüd.berlin gallery.

One exhibition, two locations

nüüd.berlin gallery
Kronenstr. 18, Berlin-Mitte
Tue – Sun, 13–19 h

Polnisches Institut Berlin
Burgstr. 27, Berlin-Mitte
Tue – Sun, 13–19 h

The Adam Mickiewicz Institute is a state cultural institution and was founded in 2000. The aim of the Institute is to arouse lasting interest in Polish culture throughout the world. It is implemented in cooperation with foreign partners in international exchange as well as in dialogue with the public, in accordance with the guidelines of Polish foreign policy. By 2022, the Institute had carried out projects in over 70 countries on six continents. The organiser of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute is the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland.

The Polish Institute Berlin is an institution of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland. Together with its branch in Leipzig, it serves Polish public and cultural diplomacy in the eastern states of Germany. It not only conveys Polish culture, but also aims to arouse interest and enthusiasm for all aspects of the multifaceted and diverse social life in the neighbouring country.