BIOGRAPHY
Born in Poznań, where she lives and works.
PHD 1980, a professor since 1991 at the Poznań University of Arts – where she worked
from 1972. Last 20 years she runs the Studio of Experimental Film and Performative
Activities at the Department of Animation and Intermedia, and at Collegium Da Vinci-
a Drawing Studio in the Graphic Arts programme. She works in various domains:
painting objects, graphics, photography, installations, video, video performance, film,
multimedia narration.
She considers running the independent Galeria ON from 1979 to 1992
to have been an interesting experiment.
Among her most memorable exhibitions were some of her earliest, The Art of Women
(1980), Presence I (1987) and Presence III (1992), and her curatorial projects:
Small Narratives 1994, Art Poznan (2005) and Urban Legend 2009.
Art historian Paweł Leszkowicz has noted that Gustowska built the foundations for
contemporary feminist art history in Poland. Leszkowicz stresses the importance of the
technique she developed for giving photography and painting a sculptural material form,
seen in such works as Relative Similarities and Dreams, where she liberated objects from
geometric frames and gave them more “bodily shapes”.
Awards-selected
1976 -At the age of 28 she received the Grand Prix at the 8th Polish Contemporary
Painting Festival in Szczecin,
1984 -The Birgit Skjold Memorial Prize –VIII The Bradford Biennale- the Eighth British
International Print 1984 for her innovations in graphic art, putting her in the company
of such award-winning artists as Max Bill, David Hockney, Sol LeWitt, Roy Lichtenstein,
Henry Moore..
1986 -Prize –The Sixth Triennale –India –New Delhi
1983 and 1993- Award Purchase of Zagreb Gallery-15th and 20th Mednarodni
Graficini Biennale-Ljublana
1993 -San Zenobia Foundation Prize
1989 -Grand Prix Norske Internasjonale Graffik Triennale –Fredrikstad
1984 -Prize in International Print Biennial -1984, Kraków
and 36 years after first prize:
2012 –- Grand Prix d’Honneur at the International Print Biennial–for long-term experiments
in graphic arts at the International Print Triennial –Kraków
Apart from these, she also received the
1999 -City of Poznań Art Award for her artistic activity.
In 1989 - she created the large-format works Secret I, II and III, at the Edmonton University
Graphic Art Studio, and considers this to have been an interesting experiment.
Individual exhibitions that she feels broke new ground for her later artistic explorations
include:
– her first video performance Multiple Portrait, Galeria Akumulatory, Poznań 1985,
– her work with patterns of likeness in Relative Similarities, National Museum, Wrocław
1986,
– her pairing of painting objects and film narration in the exhibition Floating,
National Art Gallery Zachęta, Warsaw 1996,
– her reflections on the subject of L’amour Passion in hetero - and homosexual unions featured in the exhibition Passions and Other Cases, Centre for Contemporary Art,
Warsaw 2001,
– her experiment with sound in 13 spaces in the exhibition Singing Chambers,
Regional Museum in Bydgoszcz 2001,
– her retrospective exhibition Life is a Story, including the media exhibition Art of Choice,
National Museum, Poznań 2007
Among her greatest artistic adventures during her life, she includes:
2008 - Media Story SHE, spread over thirteen spaces, which was shown at the
Malta International Theatre Festival in Poznań
2013 - and her work on the film The Case of Josephine H ... during her stay on a Kościuszko
Scholarship in New York in 2013, culminating in a 50-minute film screened during the
T-Mobile Era New Horizons at the Film Festival in Wroclaw in 2014
2014 - the 11th Annual Big Apple Film Festival in New York,
2014 - New Voices, Ancient Echoes: Polish Women in Film in New York,
2014 - the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw and other Polish galleries.
She considers the time she spent writing the book Hybrid, published by the 9/11 Art Space Foundation in 2014, to have been an intriguing period.
She considers her longest and most intriguing project, carried out from 2008 to 2015,
to have been her closed series of individual exhibitions, which included:
– Izabella Gustowska, The Case of Edward H…,The Case of Iza G…, Arsenal Gallery
Power Station, Białystok , – Izabella Gustowska, New York and a Girl – with Aneta
Grzeszykowska, Ada Karczmarczyk, Eva Rubinstein and Art Stations Gallery, Poznań
(curated by Agata Jakubowska) The publication of Izabella Gustowska. New York and
a Girl, published by Czas Kultury in 2017
and Izabella Gustowska I remember how…I remember that… published by PGS SOPOT
Last important exhibitions were:
2020 - Absolute Similarities, Zamek Culture Center Poznań 2020
2022 - Manifestos of Iza G. - Galeria Sztuki Wozownia, Toruń
Among the artistic experiences she considers to have been most important for her was
her taking part in a number of international exhibitions, including:
1985 - Kunst mit Eigen- Sinn. Aktuelle Kunst von Frauen, Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna 1985
1983, 1987 - 17a, 19a Bienal Internacional de Arte de Sao Paulo
1987 - Expressiv: Central European Art Since 1960- Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna
1988 - Expressiv: Central European Art Since 1960, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington 1988,
1988 - XLIII Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte – La Biennale di Venezia,
1991 - Voices of Freedom; Polish Women Artists and the Avant-Garde 1880-1990 - The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington
2004 - Space In Picture. Picture in Space .Lumo 92, Alvar Aalto Museo Jyvaskyla 1996- Horizons-14 Polish Contemporary Artists , Sonje Museum of Contemporary Art,Gyeongju 1996
1998 - Strateny raj, Slovenska Narodna Galeria ,Bratyslava
1999 - Toyama Now 99 The seventh international Contemporary Art Exhibition,
The Museum of Modern Art,Toyama
2001 - Corps a Corps, centre de la Gravure et de l’image imprimee, La Louviere
2003 - Architectures of Gender: Contemporary Women’s Art in Poland, Sculpture Center, New York
2009 - Gender Check, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna
2010 - Ars Homo Erotica,National Museum –Warsaw
2012 - RE.ACT.Feminism #2, Instytut Sztuki Wyspa ,Gdańsk
2014 - Everybody is Nobody for Somebody, Santander Art Gallery, Madrid
2017 - 17 Musrara Mix Festival, Jerusalem
2018 - Meditations of Fibonacci–A Corduroy Bunny, PGS,Sopot
2022 - Secondary Archive Manifesta 14- Prishtina, Kosovo
She is happy that her works are found in major museums in Poland and abroad, including:
-National Museum in Wroclaw, Poznań , Warsaw, Łódź
International Collection of Contemporary Art, Warsaw
- Collection III Gallery of National Art Gallery Zachęta – Warsaw,
- MOMA -Collection the Museum of Modern Art in New York (graphic works)
- WRO ART CENTER ,Wroclaw,
- Threshold Artspace Collection, Perth,
- Graphishe Sammlung Albertyna, Vienna,
- Alberta University Contemporary Graphics Collection, Edmonton,
- Susch Museum in Switzerland -Grażyna Kulczyk’s private collection,
centred on the art of Central and Eastern Europe,
- and in the homes of close friends.
She finds it important to travel far and close, as is there she collects photographic
and film impulses; she likes to immerse herself in reading , talking and sounds..
An important part of her day-to-day life is taking long walks with her Dachshund Gucio.
She thinks her life may bring her many interesting moments.
Izabella Gustowska was born in Poznań. She graduated from the State Higher School
of Fine Arts (at present University of Arts) in Poznań in 1972. She is a professor at the
University of Arts in Poznań, where she heads the Multimedia Activity Studio at the
Intermedia Department of the Faculty of Multimedia Communication, and she is a graphic
arts lecturer at the Higher School of Humanities and Journalism in Poznań. She lives and
works in Poznań. She uses a wide range of media in her artwork.
Her works of art are grouped in series:
2014–2008 – Strings of Time
... –2012 – The Case of Antonina L...
2008–2007 – SHE. Media Story
2007–2001 – Life is a Story
2001–1999 – Passions and Other Cases
2001–1996 – Singing Chambers
1997–1994 – Floating
1994–1990 – Dreams
1990–1979 – Relative Similarities I, II
SOLO EXHIBITIONS (selection):
2013
1% a Morning Sun- NYC 1952, Morning Sun – Poznań 2010,
Morning Sun NYC – –Gallery G G F- Gdańsk /PL/
2012
The Case of Antonina L..., Wozownia Art Gallery, Toruń (PL)
Hybrids of Space-Time, Manhattan Gallery, Łódź (PL)
2011
In Stealthy Flight I Pursued Her II, WRO Art Center, Wrocław (PL)
In Stealthy Flight I Pursued Her I, Piekary Gallery, Poznań (PL)
2009
Holiday Souvenir, Baltic Gallery of Contemporary Art, Ustka (PL)
about green, Gallery of Contemporary Art, Gorzów Wlkp. (PL)
2008
SHE. Media Story, Old Slaughterhouse, Poznań (PL)
2007
Life is a Story, National Museum, Poznań (PL)
2001
Passions and Other Cases, Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle,
Warszawa (PL)
Singing Chambers, Leon Wyczółkowski District Museum, Bydgoszcz (PL)
1997
La Source, Galerie du FRAC, Châteaugiron, Rennes (F)
1996
Floating, Zachęta State Gallery of Art, Warszawa (PL)
1994
Dreams, State Gallery of Art, Sopot (PL)
1990
Relative Similarities / White, Red, Black, Studio Gallery, Warszawa (PL)
1989
Izabella Gustowska, Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton (CA)
1986
Relative Similarities I, National Museum, Wrocław (PL)
GROUP EXHIBITIONS (selection):
2014
Everybody is Nobody for Somebody-
Sala de Arte Santander Edifio Pereda- Madrid /SP/
2013
Microutopias of the Everyday- CoCA / Znaki Czasu / - Toruń - /PL/
2012
Experimental Project, IEEB5, Victoria Art Center, Bucharest (RO)
2011
Collection of Contemporary Art, National Museum, Wrocław (PL)
2010
Ars Homo Erotica, National Museum, Warszawa (PL)
2009
Gender Check, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna (A)
2008
Mediations Biennale (Voyage Sentimental), Culture Center Zamek, Poznań (PL)
2007
Grosse Kunstausstellung NRW, Museum Kunstpalast, Dusseldorf (D)
2006
Love and Democracy, Centre for Contemporary Art Łaźnia, Gdańsk (PL)
2005
Two Asia Two Europe, Doulon Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai (CHN)
2004
XV-Years of Lumo, Lumo 2004, Jyvaskyla Art Museum, Jyvaskyla (FIN)
2003
Architectures of Gender Contemporary Women's Art in Poland, Sculpture Center NY, New York (USA)
2002
El nou art de Polonia, La Capella Gallery, Barcelona (E)
1999
Without the Wall – Eastern Europe after the Berlin Wall, State Russian Museum (Marble Palace), St.Petersburg (R)
1998
Strateny raj, Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava (SK)
1996- Horizons 14-Polish Contemporary Art, Sonje Museum of Contemporary Art Sonje -Kyongju,Kwangju,
1991
Voices of Freedom; Polish Women Artists and the Avant-Garde, 1880-1990, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington (USA)
1988
XLIII Espositzione Internazionale d'Arte, La Biennale di Venezia, Venice (I)
Expressiv, Central Art Since 1960, Museum Moderner Kunst Ludwig Wien, Vienna (A); Hirshhorn Museum Washington DC (USA)
1983, 1987
17a, 19a Bienal Internacional de Sao Paulo (BR)
Her work showed in several collections, /others thinks/
MOMA –New York
Alberta University-Contemporary Graphics Collection-Edmonton,
International Collection of Contemporary Art-Warsaw, Collection III-
Gallery of Modern Art - Zachęta Warsaw
Collection GK – Poznań
Graphishe Sammlung Albertyna –Wienna,
Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung – Ludwig-Wienna,
National Museum-Wrocław,Warsaw, Poznań, Szczecin,
Oldenburg Art.- Museum – Oldenburg,
The Lilja Polish Graphic Art-Collection,
Victoria and Albert Museum – Londyn.
WRO- Art Center- Wrocław
Threshold Artspace Collection- Perth
The Films:
1/ -99- 1987 -/ 15'/
2/-A moment -1990- / 15'/
3/ Dream 1 -1990 / 3'25 / cameraman , editing – Janusz Kołodrubiec
4 /-Conversation- 1998 / 25 min/
5/-Life is a Story- 2003 – 52'38" min/ - Collection –National Museum-Wrocław
6/-Like Cats and Dogs / Family Cinema, episode-2003 -/ 3'31"/
7/-A Game of Appearances – Tango – 2004-/ 17,44"/
8/-Wonderful life-2004 -/5'54"/
9/-My Europe – 2004 -/ 1' 06/
10/-Dream 1a- 2004 -/ 3'25 "/cameraman- Janusz Tatarkiewicz
11/-Rose- Love-2005 – / 5'30" / –G K Collection- Poznań
12/-The Art of the Hard Choice -2006-/ 19'12"
13/-The Art of the Easy Choice – 2007 -/ 19'12"/
14/-Something -2006-/ 5 '/
15/-Notbook—2013- /45'/
16/-a case of Josephine H..-2014 -/ 50'/
/ number 5-16 editing Adam Draber/
A case of Josephine H../all information is in attachment /