One of Poland's best-known contemporary painters, Marcin Maciejowski first came to international prominence as part of the Grupa Ładnie (Pretty Group), alongside fellow students from the technical university in Kraków. He explains that the group 'used joking and triviality instead of imitating pompous school teaching' to achieve an honesty and accessibility in painting that helped revitalise the medium in Poland. A chronicler of everyday life and keenly attuned to art history, he sources his imagery from a variety of media – including newspapers, television, advertising and his own photographs – depicting scenes that range from the seductive to the mundane.
The social and political implications of Maciejowski's source photographs are retained in his painted versions and brought into focus through the change in medium. These found images are translated into a unique painterly idiom that reflects his background in graphic art. He combines a comic-book aesthetic with the meticulous realism of Old Master paintings to present an enigmatic form of social commentary. Personal scenes appear alongside those with broader public significance, although his works evade any explicit narrative. The artist often equates political rhetoric with the platitudes of an art critic to question the role of contemporary art in society.
Maciejowski's work is represented in distinguished public collections, including the Belvedere, Vienna; Volpinum Kunstsammlung, Vienna; Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Foundation, Vienna; Museum der Moderne, Salzburg; MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art, Kraków; Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw; SCHAUWERK Sindelfingen; and Burger Collection, Berlin. The National Museum in Kraków held a comprehensive solo exhibition of Maciejowski's work in 2010, followed by solo shows at Ostdeutsche Galerie, Regensburg the same year and the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead in 2013. More recently his works were included in exhibitions at the Państwowa Galeria Sztuki, Sopot (2019), the Museum of Contemporary Art in Kraków (2020), and currently at the Belvedere Museum, Vienna (until February 2024).
2023
Around You, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
2021
POLISH ENVIRONS, Galerie Raster, Warsaw, Poland
2020
We Are Awesome, Galerie Mayer Kainer, Vienna, Austria
2019
Private View, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, London, UK
2018
Rephrase it positively, Gallery Baton, Seoul, South Korea
2016
Dimmed Colours, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
2015
Unsettled Matters, Wilkinson Gallery, London, UK
2014
Marcin Maciejowski: Composition for a Small Space, Galeria Raster, Warsaw, Poland
2013
Marcin Maciejowski, Galerie Meyer Kainer, Vienna, Austria
Marcin Maciejowski, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK
Fine Gesture, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
2012
Could Renoir really be wrong?, Wilkinson Gallery, London, UK
Fantom (with Siggi Hofer), Muzeum Galeria Bielska BWA, Bielsko-Biala, Poland
2010
Are You Really From The Art World?, Kunstforum Ostdeutsche Galerie, Regensburg, Germany
Are you really from the art world?, Galerie Thaddeus Ropac, Paris, France
That's How It Is, National Museum, Kraków, Poland
2009
Marcin Maciejowski, Galerie Meyer Kainer, Vienna, Austria
2008
Not Obvious, Gallery Wilkinson, London, UK
2007
Bedzie Wielka Burza (A Great Storm is Coming), Art–pol, Kraków, Poland
Pies Gallery, Poznan, Poland
Uszynka Showcase, Vienna, Austria
I Wanna Talk to You, Galerie Meyer Kainer at Art Cologne, Cologne, Germany
2006
I Used to Live in Vienna, Galerie Meyer Kainer, Vienna, Austria
Struktury Dobra (Structures of Good), Galeria Raster, Warsaw, Poland
2005
Pictures at an Exhibition, Galerie Meyer Kainer, Vienna, Austria
Discovery, Gallery Leo König, New York, NY, USA
2004
Dziupla (Stash), Galeria Arsenał, Bialystok, Poland
Painting, Gallery Marc Foxx, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2003
Zachwoujmy sie normalnie (Let’s Behave Normally), Gallery PGS, Sopot, Poland
Rysunki (Drawings), Redakcja Polityki, Warsaw, Poland
2002
Sad, Pretty, Galerie Meyer Kainer, Vienna, Austria
New Jobs, Galeria Manhattan, Lodz, Poland
They Live Here and They Are Doing Good Here, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw
Hier leben sie und hier geht es ihnen gut, Polish Institute, Berlin, Germany
Why did so many Poles went abroad, Company Bayer, Warsaw, Poland
2001
The Children Should Not See Such Scenes, Galeria Raster, Warsaw, Poland
Polska (Poland), Galeria Zderzak, Kraków, Poland
2000
Sport i pielęgnacja (Sports and Bodystyling), Galeria Zderzak, Kraków, Poland
1999
Wembley szaleje, Wembley faluje (Wembley is Going Crazy, Wembley is Doing te Wave), Galeria Koło, Instytut Historii Sztuki Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, Kraków, Poland
1998
Pictures About the Good, Love and Culture, Culture–Club, Kraków, Poland
2022
The Belvedere. 300 Years a Venue for Art, Lower Belvedere, Vienna, Austria
Tectonic Movements. On the artistic symptoms of the Transition, Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź, Łódź, Poland
On the Trail of Perfection. Selected works from the collection of Wojciech Fibak, PGS | Państwowa Galeria Sztuki, Sopot, Poland
2021
All the King's Tapestries: Homecomings 2021 – 1961 – 1921, Royal Wawel Castle, Kraków, Poland
The Musical Score and the Garden. Music in Drawing, Garden in Music, MOCAK | Museum of Contemporary Art in Kraków, Kraków, Poland
2020
30 Years in Paris, Thaddeaus Ropac, Paris Pantin, France
Contemporary Models of Realism, MOCAK | Museum of Contemporary Art in Kraków, Kraków, Poland
The Pope, MOCAK | Museum of Contemporary Art in Kraków, Kraków, Poland
2019
Free time, time stopped, BWA Tarnów Contemporary Art Gallery, Tarnów, Poland
My name is red, PGS | Państwowa Galeria Sztuki, Sopot, Poland
2018
Pluses and Minuses. On Bialystok Power Station, Galeria Arsenal, Bialystok, Poland
If I were the moon, Raster Gallery, Warsaw, Poland
Motherland in Art, MOCAK | Museum of Contemporary Art in Kraków, Kraków, Poland
2017
From Artificial Reality to Selfie: The Self-portrait in Polish Contemporary Art, BWA, Wroclaw, Poland
Artists from Kraków. The Generation 1970–1077, MOCAK | Museum of Contemporary Art in Kraków, Kraków, Poland
Art in Art, MOCAK | Museum of Contemporary Art in Kraków, Kraków, Poland
#heritage, National Museum, Kraków, Poland
2016
My Abstract World, me Collectors Room, Berlin, Germany
2014
Eurasia: A View on Painting, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Pantin, France
An Inner Dialogue: The Contemporary Self-Portrait, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
This Side of Paradise, Sotheby's SI2, London, UK
2013
Way Back Home, Fundacja Sztuk Wizualnych, Kraków, Poland
Longing for Myself, ESSL Museum, Klosterneuburg, Austria
2012
FANTOM, BWA, Bielsko Biala, Poland
2011
History in Art, MOCAK | Museum of Contemporary Art in Kraków, Kraków, Poland
The Power of Fantasy: Modern and Contemporary Polish Art, Brussels, Belgium
2010
Schism, Polish Art of the 1990s, Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, Poland
The Book in Polish Art and Literature, Delikatesy, Kraków, Poland
Das Porträt im Wandel der Zeit, Sehnsucht nach dem Abbild, Kunsthalle, Krems, Austria
The Making of Art, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Over and Over Again, Wyspa Institute of Art, Gdansk, Poland
The Last Movie, Galeria Raster, Warsaw, Poland
2009
Sehnsucht nach dem Abbild, Kunsthalle Krems, Krems, Austria
The Making of Art, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
Last day of Summer, Galeria Pies, Poznan, Poland
2008
Bildpolitiken, Kunstverein Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
2007
Exitus, Tod alltäglich, Künstlerhaus, Vienna, Austria
Franz West: Souffle, Kunstraum Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
Polish Painting of the 21st Century, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland
Andrzej finansowo stoi bardzo dobrze, Galeria Zderzak, Kraków, Poland
2006
Stan Zewnętrzny (The Inner State), Centrum Kultury "Zamek", Poznan, Poland
Malerei der Gegenwart, Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Munich Museum Franz Gertsch, Burgdorf, Germany
Kolekcja Bunkra Sztuki, Bunkier Sztuki, Kraków, Poland
In Polen, czyli gdzie? In Poland, that is where?, CSW–Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw, Poland
Is it Better to Be a Bood Artist or a Good Person?, Gallery Rental, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Nach Schiele, Atelier Augarten, Vienna, Austria
2005
Wystawa o niczym, BWA, Zielona Gora, Poland
Prague Biennale 2, Overview Poland, Kerlin Hall, Prague, Czech Republic
Clouding Europe, Gallery Gandy, Bratislava, Slovakia
Stadtmaler: Artists in residence 1988–2001, Bayer AG, Leverkusen, Germany
Nach Rykotnik, Die Sammlung der EVN, Museum moderner Kunst, Vienna, Austria
Superstars, Von Warhol bis Madonna, Kunsthalle Wien, Kunstforum BA–CA, Vienna, Austria
Falsche Erwartung, Kunsthalle Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany
Podróże "Made in Poland", Gallery Zderzak, Kraków, Poland
Vom Bild zum Bild. Metamorphose, Museum der Moderne, Rupertinum, Salzburg, Austria
Polish Art of the 20th Century, National Museum, Kraków, Poland
In This (our) Country, Vienna International Apartment, Turku, Finland
2004
The Yugoslaw Biennal of Young Artists, Vrsac/Belgrade, Serbia
Habitat, Arndt&Partner, Berlin, Germany
Gelegenheit und Reue, Grazer Kunstverein, Graz, Austria
Under the Red and White flag: New Art from Poland, Estonian Art Museum, Tallinn; Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania; National Centre for Contemporary Arts, Moscow, Russia
Walk me, Centre of Architecture, Vienna, Austria
Monde parallele, La Maison Folie de Wazemmes, Lille, France; Bunkier Sztuki, Kraków, Poland
Distances?, Le Plateau, Paris, France
Far West Near East, Forum für Kunst und Architektur, Essen, Germany
2003
Dessinez avec Desirée, Galerie Meyer Kainer, Vienna, Austria
Dekada, 10 Years Art: Competition "Paszport Polityki", CSW–Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw, Poland
Nation, Kunstverein Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
2002
Supermarket of Art III: People and Objects, Galeria DAP, Warsaw, Poland
Really, the youngsters are realists, Center for Contemporary Art, Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw, Poland
Dobrze, in Ordnung, Minoritenzentrum, Graz, Kunstbuero, Graz, Austria
2001
Relax, Galeria Arsenał, Bialystok, Poland
Rybie oko (Fisheye), BWA, Slupsk, Poland
The First Friday in a Month, Galeria Manhattan, Lodz, Poland
Pop–Elita, Trends of Art at the end of the '90s, Bunkier Sztuki, Kraków, Poland
Wyprzedaż Sztuki (Sale of Art), BWA, Katowice, Poland
2000
Trafik.Kunst, Young.Free.Art/Cracow 2000, Polish Institute, Vienna, Austria
100% Malarstwa, Galeria BWA, Poznan, Poland
Scena 2000, Centre for Contemporary Art, Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw, Poland
Grupa Ladnie at D'Arcy, D'Arcy, Warsaw, Poland
1999
Namaluj mnie (Paint me), Galeria BWA, Zielona Gora, Poland
Austria
Volpinum Kunstsammlung, Vienna
France
Centre Pompidou, Paris
Germany
Burger Collection, Berlin
Goetz Collection, Munich
Netherlands
Ellipse Foundation - Contemporary Art Collection, Amsterdam
Norway
Astrup Fearnley Museet for Moderne Kunst, Oslo
Poland
Bunkier Stzuki, Kraków
Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw
USA
Jewish Museum, New York, NY
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
University of North Carolina, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Greensboro, NC
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY