Acrylic on canvas, 73 x 100 cm
Signed on the front and back
Joanna Mieszko (b. 1969) is a painter, sculptor, performance artist, and art curator. She also works in photography and drawing. She graduated from the State Higher School of Fine Arts (now the University of Arts) in Poznań, where she studied in the sculpture studios of Prof. Józef Petruk, Prof. Maciej Szańkowski and Prof. Józef Kopczyński, and in drawing under Prof. Józef Drążkiewicz and Prof. Bogdan Wegner. She also studied animation under Prof. Kazimierz Urbański and Prof. Jacek Adamczak and took classes with Professors Jan Berdyszak and Leszek Mądzik in Skoki. Her 1996 thesis project, a series of sandstone sculptures titled “Struggles,” was installed in the park at the Poznań Zoo.
From 2014 until Edward Dwurnik’s death in 2018, Mieszko collaborated with the artist, creating during that time an extensive photographic documentation—both factual and artistic—of this collaboration. During this time, she also worked intensively on a series of large-scale acrylic paintings and hundreds of smaller works in ink. Her body of work includes the original performance piece “The Act of Creation,” as well as presentations of sculptures, large-format drawings, and paintings at solo and group exhibitions. Together with Edward Dwurnik, she organized an exhibition of black-and-white works at the Stalowa Gallery in Warsaw. She also curated Dwurnik’s exhibitions in Szczecin, at the ZPAP “Kierat” Gallery (2014) and at the Pomeranian Library (2014 and 2018).
Joanna Mieszko is a member of the ZAiKS Authors’ Association and the Association of Polish Artists and Designers.
The Szczecin audience may remember Joanna Mieszko from the performance “The Act of Creation,” which took place in June 2012 at the ZPAP “Kierat” Gallery. At that time, the artist created impressive charcoal drawings on large panels at a breakneck pace. This time, she presents a series of large canvases painted in acrylic and oil, which trace her artistic journey. It begins with depictions of the human body—naked and exposed in a metaphysical sense—through the interrelationships between figures. Subsequent works are inspired by Nikifor’s painting technique, dominated by shades of gray, black, and white. They transition seamlessly into urban vedute, where forms and colors take on organic relationships, symbolically conveying their purposefulness and dysfunctionality.
These works depict cities such as New York, Paris, Lisbon, and Szczecin, symbolizing the boundless expansion of the ego, which draws its power from the urban environment. Nevertheless, they remain on the fringes of contemporary artistic trends, drawing inspiration and lessons from masters such as Nikifor and Dwurnik. In particular, Edward Dwurnik, to whom Joanna dedicated her exhibition, which coincides with the month of his birthday—he would have turned 77 on April 19.
In her works, Mieszko captures the narratives of urban landscapes and quasi-organic structures, introducing interdependent figures into them and bringing time to life. These stories, unfolding from the primordial source that is the human being, are full of energy, emotion, and discipline, opening new doors in her artistic project.
Solo and group exhibitions:
1991–96 – student group exhibitions (drawing, sculpture, animation)
1993 – “Czatownia” print exhibition, Chojna
2004 – “Przemijanie” sculpture installation, Chojna Cultural Center; “Gieronimo” sculpture installation, Chojna Cultural Center
2007 – “Everyone Suffers” exhibition of prints and drawings, Gallery of Contemporary Art and History of the Chojna Region in Chojna; exhibition of large-scale sculpture, Gallery E at the West Pomeranian Center for Teacher Counseling and Professional Development in Szczecin
2010 – group exhibition “Contemporary Medal Art in Western Pomerania,” National Museum in Szczecin
2011 – group exhibition “Presence,” Castle of the Pomeranian Dukes in Szczecin; group exhibition of the Szczecin District of the Association of Polish Fine Artists (ZPAP) as part of the celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of ZPAP; a happening combined with the drawing exhibition “The Act of Creation,” Cultural Center in Chojna
2012 – group exhibition “New Beginning,” ZPAP Central Board Gallery in Warsaw; solo drawing exhibition “The Act of Creation II” combined with a happening, “Kierat” Gallery in Szczecin; solo exhibition of large-format drawings “The End of Humanity,” St. Mary’s Church in Chojna; creation of the large-format sculpture “Funeral Pyre”—a reconstruction of the funeral pyre of a 1st-century CE warrior from Czelin
2013 – group exhibition “1991 To and From,” Winda Gallery, BWA in Kielce
2014 – solo drawing exhibition “Landscapes of the Body,” Caffe 22 Gallery, Radisson Blu Hotel in Szczecin
2014 – “Dwurnik at Kierat”—ZPAP “Kierat” Gallery
2014 – “Athletes”—Pomeranian Library, Hall Under the Pyramid
2015 – Solo drawing exhibition “The Act of Creation III,” combined with a happening, Zamek Art Gallery in Szczecinek
2016 – Group exhibition “Zoom on Szczecin,” Mieczysław
Karłowicz Philharmonic in Szczecin
2017 – exhibition of large-format paintings and prints “About Szczecin,” Książnica Pomorska, Szczecin
2018 – painting exhibition together with EDWARD DWURNIK at the “STALOWA” Gallery titled “Black and White,” Warsaw
2024 – “The Games,” an exhibition of paintings by Joanna Mieszko, Art in House, Olympic Center, Warsaw
Curator of Edward Dwurnik’s exhibitions in Szczecin:
2018 – “Dwurnik’s Book Collection” – Nobel Laureates and Romantics, Pomeranian Library, Hall Under the Pyramid
2020 – “Organisms,” large-format paintings. ZPAP “Kierat” Gallery, Szczecin
2020 – “Dwurnik: Joy and Pain.” An exhibition of large-format photographs combined with the promotion of the album “Edward Dwurnik Through My Lens” by Joanna Mieszko
2021 – “8 WOMEN.” Large-format paintings. Konduktorownia, Częstochowa.
