CV
Monika Walendziak (born 1986), painter and photographer.
After
graduating in history of art, she followed her studies into philosophy
and theology at Jesuits' college in Warsaw and four year long course of
Orthodox iconography and spirituality at the College of the Christian
East (Studium Chrześcijańskiego Wschodu) at Dominicans' monastery.
She investigates the subject of mutability, dynamics of growth and decay of structures, of dying and transformation in the natural world and nature regaining its place in areas previously occupied by human activity. A special place for the artist is the garden, being a space of confrontation of man and nature as well as for a clash between freedom and determinism.
Inspired by the idea of radical corporeality of art, she pays much attention to the tangible aspect of her paintings, experimenting with primers, binders and dry pigments. Treating geometric forms as universal and elemental language of visual imagination she invites meditative reflection on the instability of the material world, aspects of control, destruction and resurrection.
Her works were displayed as individual and group exhibitions in the United Kingdom, Poland and Ukraine and can be found in private collections in the UK, Poland, Ukraine, Denmark and Australia. Since 2017 she has been regularly working in Copenhagen being responsible for the design of the chapel, wall paintings and icons at Sankt Augustins Kirke.
She investigates the subject of mutability, dynamics of growth and decay of structures, of dying and transformation in the natural world and nature regaining its place in areas previously occupied by human activity. A special place for the artist is the garden, being a space of confrontation of man and nature as well as for a clash between freedom and determinism.
Inspired by the idea of radical corporeality of art, she pays much attention to the tangible aspect of her paintings, experimenting with primers, binders and dry pigments. Treating geometric forms as universal and elemental language of visual imagination she invites meditative reflection on the instability of the material world, aspects of control, destruction and resurrection.
Her works were displayed as individual and group exhibitions in the United Kingdom, Poland and Ukraine and can be found in private collections in the UK, Poland, Ukraine, Denmark and Australia. Since 2017 she has been regularly working in Copenhagen being responsible for the design of the chapel, wall paintings and icons at Sankt Augustins Kirke.
She lives in Edinburgh, UK.
Represented by: Ikikata.Art Gallery
1999-2003 Wojciech Gerson School of Fine Arts
[Ogólnokształcąca Szkoła Sztuk Pięknych, Zespół Państwowych Szkół Plastycznych
im. Wojciecha Gersona], Warsaw, Poland
2005-2010 History of Art, Master’s Degree,
Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University, Warsaw, Poland
2010-2013 Philosophy & Theology, Pontifical Faculty of Theology Collegium Bobolanum, Warsaw, Poland
2009-2013 Byzantine Iconography,
College of the Christian East [Studium Chrześcijańskiego Wschodu], Warsaw,
Poland
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2022:
'Does the Garden have to be destroyed?', Kirketorvet, Aarhus, Denmark
2018:
'Garden', Galeria Matulka, Milanówek, Poland
2014:
'Matter and Light', The Meditatio
Centre, London, UK
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2023:
20th Warsaw Art Fair: Ikikata.Art Gallery, EXPO XXI, Warsaw, Poland
The Society of Scottish Artists 125th Annual Exhibition, Maclaurin Art Gallery, Rozelle Estate, Ayr, Scotland, UK
Warsaw ArtShow, Fabryka Norblina, Warsaw, Poland
'IS IT STILL (A) LIFE?', Ikikata Gallery, Podkowa Leśna, Poland
2022:
The Society of Scottish Artists 130 Years | Annual Exhibition, The Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, UK19th Warsaw Art Fair: Ikikata.Art Gallery, EXPO XXI, Warsaw, Poland
'Kolonia artystyczna Podkowa Leśna', Centrum Kultury i Inicjatyw Obywatelskich - Pałacyk Kasyno, Podkowa Leśna, Poland
2020:
'Beyond the Surface', Ikikata Art Gallery, Podkowa Leśna, Poland2019:
'Zamlynnia', The Palace of Art, Lviv, Ukraine'Zamlynnia', Volhynian Museum of Icons, Lutsk, Ukraine
'Nature', University of Edinburgh, UK
'Torah in Byzantine Iconography'
- Art Gallery, Lutsk, Ukraine
Exhibition following the 7th International Meeting of Iconographers, Zamlynnia, Ukraine
2018:
'Mass of the Night River', St Matthew's Church of Scotland, Perth, UK2017:
'Darkroom Tales', Ice Factory, Perth, UK'Nature', University of Edinburgh, UK
'Torah in Byzantine Iconography'
- Art Gallery, Lutsk, Ukraine
Exhibition following the 7th International Meeting of Iconographers, Zamlynnia, Ukraine
2016:
Democratic Camera Club Exhibition 'Ideas of Beauty', Summerhall, Edinburgh, UK
‘Peacemakers’:
- Regional Museum, Kovel, Ukraine
- Dubno Castle, Ukraine
- Regional Museum, Kremenets, Ukraine
‘Peacemakers’:
- Regional Museum, Kovel, Ukraine
- Dubno Castle, Ukraine
- Regional Museum, Kremenets, Ukraine
- R_z Gallery, Rzeszów, Poland
- KIK,
Warsaw, Poland
- Debiut Gallery, Gdynia, Poland
‘Sacred Art in Volynia’, B.Biegas
Gallery, Ciechanów, Poland
2015:
‘Peacemakers’:
- Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum,
Lviv, Ukraine
- Art Gallery, Lutsk, Ukraine
Exhibition following the 5th
International Meeting of Iconographers, Zamlynnia, Ukraine
College of the Christian East Annual Exhibition, St Joseph's Dominican Monastery, Warsaw, Poland
2014:
'The Sacred Face', St John's
Church, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
2012:
College of the Christian East
Annual Exhibition, St Joseph's Dominican Monastery, Warsaw, Poland
2011:
College of the Christian East
Annual Exhibition, St Joseph's Dominican Monastery, Warsaw, Poland
2010:
College of the Christian
East Annual Exhibition, St Joseph's Dominican Monastery, Warsaw, Poland
2020 - Ongoing
PUBLIC COMMISSIONS:
2020 - Ongoing
'Anastasis' Chapel, Sankt Augustins Kirke, Copenhagen, Denmark
2020:
Murals for Sankt Augustins Kirke, Copenhagen, Denmark2019:
Icon for St Mary's RC Church, Inverness, Scotland, UKWall paintings for Sankt Augustins Kirke, Copenhagen, Denmark
2018:
Icons for Sankt Augustins Kirke, Copenhagen, Denmark2015:
Icon for St Mary's RC Cathedral, Aberdeen, Scotland, UKRESIDENCIES:
2017: the 7th International Meeting of Iconographers, Zamlynnia, Ukraine, organised by:
Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Lutsk, National Association of Ukrainian
Artists, Department of Ukrainian Studies of the University of Warsaw, Lviv National
Academy of Arts, Association of Polish Artists and Designers
2015: the 5th International Meeting of Iconographers, Zamlynnia, Ukraine, organised by:
Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Lutsk, National Association of Ukrainian
Artists, Department of Ukrainian Studies of the University of Warsaw, Lviv National
Academy of Arts, Association of Polish Artists and Designers