Bartholomew Kiełbowicz, Cleavage for Belarus, 2021

watercolor, paper, 42 x 29.5 cm

The work alludes to Eugène Delacroix's iconic work "Freedom Leading the People to the Barricades" and Jana Shostak's happening "Decolletage for Belarus," in which the artist, followed by more people protesting against Lukashenko's dictatorship, wrote on their necklines the names of brands maintaining cooperation with his regime.
Bartłomiej Kiełbowicz, born 1985 - visual artist, graduate of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (diploma in Jarosław Modzelewski's studio). He creates paintings, drawings, videos, murals and installations. In his works, he combines a spontaneous and often destructive gesture with painstaking hours-long and very precise actions. He is an observer of everyday life, which he regularly comments on in his drawing diaries and activist actions. His works have been exhibited at the Center for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, the Biała Gallery in Lublin and the Labyrinth Gallery in Lublin, as well as during the Drawing Triennale at the Contemporary Museum in Wroclaw. In his most recent works he expresses his opposition to the war in Ukraine and violence against refugees on the Polish-Belarusian border. He was also one of the initiators of the "Busy" action. He runs a drawing studio at the Painting Department of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. He collaborates with choreographer Livia Bargiel.
2024 - Art vs War, Okno na Kulturę Gallery, Warsaw.
2023 - Radical Parenthood, Arsenal Gallery, Bialystok.
2023 - Painted Pope, Marszalkowska 18 Gallery, Warsaw.
2023 - Capturing, 10th Triennale of Youth, Orońsko.
2023 - Wróblewski and After. Art of Direct Realism, National Museum in Lublin
2022 - Season in Hell, group show, BWA Bielsko Biala Gallery, Bielsko Biala 2022- Mixed feelings, solo exhibition with Livia Bargiel, m2 gallery, Warsaw
2022 - Stretching 2nd art performance with Livia Bargiel, BLMK Museum, Cottbus
2021 - Stretching 1st performance, Gdansk Shipyard, Gdansk, Poland
2021 - Jana Shostak - Solidarity in progress, group exhibition, MOS, Gorzow Wielkopolski, 2021
2020 - You will never walk alone, group exhibition, Labyrinth Gallery, Lublin
2020 - Sublimation, solo exhibition, White Gallery, Lublin
2020 - Magical Revisionism, group exhibition with the "Collective Collective", Propaganda Gallery, Warsaw.
2020 - We are people/ We are people, group exhibition, Labyrinth Gallery, Lublin
2019 - Borderline, group exhibition, Contemporary Museum, head exhibition at Triennale of Drawing, Wroclaw, Poland
2019 - The Son of Man Machine, group exhibition, Centrum Sztuki Galeria EL, Elbląg
2018 - I've been living in somebody's dream for some time, solo exhibition, Gallery Contrast, Warsaw.
2015 - Summer, group exhibition, Roberto Polo Gallery, Brussels.
2014 - Building diary, solo exhibition, Center for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle Warsaw, Poland.
2013 - Parachuters, solo exhibition, 81 Gallery Warsaw.
2012 - Space for rent, solo exhibition, "Jerusalem" Warsaw.
2012 - Sick art, "Jerusalem" Warsaw.
2012 - Yemanja, solo exhibition and performance, 81 Gallery Warsaw.
2012 - Ruts of Fate, solo exhibition, Gazeta Wyborcza, Warsaw.
2011 - Meia lua, solo exhibition, DAP gallery Warsaw, Poland
2009 - Coming Out, Best Diplomas of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.
2009 - Art Competition of Siemens, main award
2009 - Nowhere or Where?, Aspekt Gallery
2009 - Bartek Kiełbowicz, individual exhibition, Podlaska Gallery
2009 - Art Uprising, Mural "Elektrownia" Radom
2008 - Did you clean up after your dog?, Aspekt Gallery
2008 - Impluwium, mural, XXI Gallery
2008 - Blow up, solo exhibition, Stair Gallery, 2008.