crayon, paper, 36 x 27 cm signed p.d.: A. Kus
exhibited: His neighbor as himself, Magnetic Fields Gallery, Warsaw, 2022.
In the work "Zzieleniała" Agata Kus, reaching for a classic theme related to family and domesticity, draws attention to an often overlooked problem, which is long-hidden jealousy, often invisible, hidden for years. Jealousy that causes such an accumulation of emotions in us that we begin to "turn green" on the inside.
Looking at the work, it is worth noting that the girl looking at us from under the eye has been delicately shaded with yellow crayon. Is this a symbol of innocence, youth, inexperience? The girl's eyes are passionate, trusting, lively. The Green of the title is tired, blasé and seemingly absent from the whole scene.
Agata Kus is one of the best artists of the young generation. Collectors and curators from home and abroad appreciate Kus' unique imagination, which allows her to build scenes full of ambiguous symbols, tensions and narratives. This year the artist received the prestigious Kazimierz Ostrowski Award and her paintings can be seen in several solo exhibitions.
Agata Kus was born in 1987 in Krosno. She lives and works in Cracow. She is a graduate and doctoral student of the Faculty of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow. She defended her diploma in Prof. Leszek Misiak's studio in 2012. From 2010-2016 she was an assistant in Paulina Olowska's private atelier. She mainly works in painting and video. She has won many awards and scholarships, including the winner of the 2015 WRO International Media Art Biennale in Wroclaw. In 2017, she was nominated for the Deutsche Bank and Zacheta Views Award. She is the winner ex aequo with Lukasz Patelczyk of the 2020 Compass of Young Art, and the winner of the Kazimierz Ostrowski Award for 2024. Her paintings are among others in the collection of the MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow, the National Museum in Gdansk and in numerous private collections in Poland and abroad.
Selected solo exhibitions:
2024:
First Time, Mazovian Art Center Elektrownia, Radom.
Exhibition as part of the Kazimierz Ostrowski Award (XXXIII edition), ZPAP, Gdansk.
2021:
Later than you think, Galerie des Krakauer Hauses, Nuremberg
2020:
Blue Sun, Visiting Gallery, Warsaw.
2019:
Agata Kus. Horror Picture Show, Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow
2018:
Flammable Hydrogen, Visiting Gallery, Warsaw.
Peleas and Melisande, Grand Theater - National Opera, Warsaw
Possessed , Promotional Gallery of the Academy of Fine Arts, Krakow
2016:
Converter (Converter) (a painting-and-music project withMichał Dymny), Zachęta Projects Place, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw
Mademoiselle, Maëlle Galerie, Paris
2015:
Shiners. Black and Blue (Bitki. Plums. Sour apples), Klub Piękny Pies, Krakow
2014:
Disgusting Youth (MO. Young Demented), Galeria i!, Krakow BEWARE OF THE BITCH (CAUTION ZŁA SUKA), Klub Piękny Pies,Krakow
2013:
Vorsicht Bissige Hündin, Galerie Sandhofer, Salzburg
Saw Fish (Saw Fish) - Grupa Kuku Kuku (in collaboration with KatarzynaKukuła), Zderzak Gallery, Krakow
Living in the iWorld, PLASTIC, exhibition in virtual space
2012:
Es war einmal eine böse Wölfin, Galerie Sandhofer, Innsbruck
2011:
Liquid Woman - Kuku Kuku Group (in collaboration with Katarzyna Kukuła),Cellar Gallery, Krakow
2010:
Hidden, Solvay Centre for Contemporary Art, Krakow
2009:
Agata Kus: Paintings (Paintings), Piwnica PodCieniami Gallery, Krosno.
Selected group exhibitions:
2024
-New Generation and Classics from the collection of Wojciech Fibak, CCA ZNAKI CZASU, Toruń
2023
Kus +Libera, Thomas Erben Gallery, New York, USA
2022
Seven stages of a woman's life. Paintings by Polish women artists, Villa Gallery, Lodz, Poland.
Souls, Shefter Gallery, Cracow, Poland
WOMAN ART POWER, MCSW Elektrownia, Radom.
2019
FARBA ZNACZY KREW, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.
PROBLEMS OF THE FIRST WORLD: LIFE BEFORE DEATH, Stefan Gierowski Foundation.
" A New Look," National Museum in Gdańsk
Problems of the First World II, Rondo Sztuki, Katowice, Poland
YOUNG POLISH PAINTING- NATIONAL MUSEUM IN GDANSK
Generation of Krakow painters born around 1990, Del'Arte Foundation Collection, Krakow
Nature in Art, MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art, Krakow
2018
YOUNG POLISH ARTISTS Award of the Vordemberge-Gildewart Foundation.
Transformations, Art Agenda Nova, Krakers, Kraków
FROM THE KNEES. POLAND IS A DREAM, Olimpia Gallery, Krakow
2017
Deutsche Bank Award, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw.
Compass of Young Art, Olympic Center, Warsaw.
Qui es tu lorsque personne ne te regarde?, Maëlle Galerie, Paris
Cabinet Da - End 07, Galerie Da End, Paris
NO PROBLEM, Potencja Gallery, Krakow
XY - Újgenerációs lengyel-magyar festészet, MODEM, Centre for Modern and Contemporary Arts, Debrecen, HU
2016
Biennale of Polish-German Art in Krakow, Krakow.
Fresh Blood. Winners I-V Edition. Contemporary Museum, Wrocław
Second Skin, Gdansk City Gallery, Gdansk
Art Paris Art Fair, MaëlleGalerie, Grand Palais, Paris.
Artists from Krakow: Generation 1980-1990, MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art, Krakow
Minimal and Medium, WRO 2015 TEST EXPOSURE on Tour WRO Resume, Gallery Aula UAP, Poznań
Women Painters, BiałaGallery, Cultural Centre (Cultural Center), Lublin
42nd Painting Biennale Bielska Jesień (42nd Painting Biennale Bielska Jesień),Bielska Galeria BWA, Bielsko-Biala
2015
WRO Resume, WRO Art Centre (WRO Art Center), Wroclaw.
CORPS ÉTRANGER, Maëlle Galerie, Paris
WRO Media Art Biennale Test Exposure, New Building of the University Library(New Building of the University Library), Wroclaw.
2014
From Dusk Till Dawn, Zderzak Gallery, Krakow
Description, WRO Art Centre, DH Renoma, Wroclaw.
Urban Picture (Urban image), Labyrinth Gallery, Lublin
7th Triennale of Young Artists (7th Triennial of Young Artists), Centre for PolishSculpture (Polish Sculpture Center), Orońsko
Blackbox, Galerie Nasty Alice, Eindhoven
Xtreme (Extremes), InSpiracje Festival, Szczecin
Habitat, Galeria MS44 island, FAMA Festival, Swinoujscie
Sex, Galerie Nasty Alice, Eindhoven
KunstRAI Editie 30, Art Amsterdam
It's Better Not to be Too Bright (Better to have a narrow horizon...), Zderzak Gallery,Krakow
WRO on Tour:
- KinoLab, Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw
- MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art, Krakow
2013
WRO on Tour:
- Aarhus Film Festival, Aarhus
- Lucania Film Festival, Pisticci
- Muzaplus, Tel Aviv
- ArtNastup Festival, Lviv
3rd Exhibition of Young Art 'Fresh Blood', Socato Gallery, Wroclaw.
DDessin, Atelier Richelieu, Paris
Perfectionists (Perfectionists), post-competition exhibition, Modessque, FabrykaTrzciny, Warsaw
9th Triennial of Small Forms of Paintings,Wozownia Art Gallery, Toruń, Poland.
I Wish You A New Brave World, FAMA Festival, Swinoujscie.
The Rings of Saturn, Ballestrem Palace, WRO 15th Media Art Biennale Pioneering Values, Wroclaw.
5th International Drawing Competition, Museum of Architecture, Wroclaw, Poland.
2012
Best Diploma Works 2012 (Best Diplomas 2012), Palace of Fine Arts (Pałac Sztuki), Krakow
Return of the Textile (Tkanina returns), Central Museum of Textiles, Łódź
NO LOGO, Zderzak Gallery, Cracow
The Team: 11 Players Take Up Positions, Konsulart Gallery, Consulate General of Germany, Krakow
Die Mannschaft. 11 Künstler aus Krakau in wechselnden Positionen, Krakauer Haus, Nürnberg
2011
Ice Cream Queens (Ice Cream Queens), Zderzak Gallery, Krakow
Vordemberge-Gildewart Foundation Award (Vordemberge-Gildewart Foundation Award), MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art, Krakow
FID 2011 - International Drawing Fair, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris
Hestia Artistic Journey - Finalists' Exhibition, StateArt Gallery (State Art Gallery), Sopot.
On Strange Feelings (On strange feelings), Zderzak Gallery, Krakow
Achievements, awards, scholarships:
Kazimierz Ostrowski Award for 2024.
First place Compass of Young Art 2020 (ex aequo with Łukasz Patelczyk).
Nomination for the Views Award, Deutsche Bank and Zachęta - National Gallery of Art, 2017
9th place and Award in the Compass of Young Art, Rzeczpospolita Ranking, 2017
WRO Main Prize 2015, Wro Media Art Biennale test Exposure, 2015.
Neptune's trident for the best artistic event of the FAMA festival for the authors of the exhibition "Habitat", 2014
Award of the Municipal Art Center in the New Image Competition, Poznań 2014
Grand Prix of the 3rd Young Art Review Fresh Blood, Wroclaw 2013
Second Prize in the All-Polish Painting Contest - Painting with a Universal Language, Warsaw 2013.
Finalist of the 2nd Internet Biennale of Young Polish Art Diploma- Beginning of the Road, Krakow, 2013.
Laureate of the Fama Festival in the category of Visual Arts, Świnoujście 2013
Finalist in the painting competition Perfectionists Modessque, Warsaw, 2013Laureate of the Scholarship of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, 2011.
Winner of the Jan Matejko Creative Scholarship in the discipline of fine arts, 2011
Laureate of the Sapere Auso Scholarship of the Malopolska Scholarship Foundation, 2011
Honorable mention for artistic achievement at the FAMA festival, Swinoujscie, 2011
Honorable mention in the "For the Work" competition, ASP Kraków, 2011
Finalist of the "Hestia's Artistic Journey" competition, Sopot, 2011
Final of the scholarship competition of the Vordemberge-Gildewart Foundation, MOCAK Krakow, 2011
Final of the recruitment competition and participation in the FID International Drawing Fair, Cité
Internationale des Arts, Paris, 2011
Honorable mention in the 1st Edition of the National Confrontations of Art Schools, Radom, 2011
