Agata Agatowska (b. 1976), Untitled, 2017

Biography
Agata Agatowska, born in 1976 in Oświęcim. She studied sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław (B.F.A., 2001), then sculpture and stage design at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in Germany (B.A. in 2012). She earned her Ph.D. from the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław (2012) and her habilitation from the KEN Pedagogical University in Kraków in 2019. She is currently a professor at the Kraków university. The artist creates figurative sculptures using various media: aluminum, bronze, concrete, and mastic. For her metal castings, she uses the services of the renowned Schmäke Art Foundry in Düsseldorf, which has collaborated with sculptors of the caliber of Tony Cragg and Marcus Lüpertz. Agatowska is the creator of an original method of using a type of epoxy resin—mastic—in her sculptures, which she dyes in intense colors, including cobalt and carmine. It is precisely this radical color palette that brings Agatowska closer to an outstanding artist of the Düsseldorf scene—Katharina Fritsch, who is a generation her senior. However, the nature of the Polish sculptor’s imagination and the thematic scope of her work are different. Agatowska typically depicts female figures from the hips up, positioned on tall pedestals. They draw inspiration from contemporary pop culture; they are inspired by manga, comics, fantasy films, and the “cosmicism” of the second half of the 20th century. Agatowska’s women in futuristic “armor” resemble figures from the fashion shows of Thierry Mugler, Karl Lagerfeld, or Moschino. The title of one of her sculptures, “Catwalk to a Dream 1” (2013), alludes to precisely such fashion productions. The futuristic nature of the artist’s work is also underscored by the titles of her solo exhibitions: Sculptures from the Future (Oświęcim—various locations, 2016), A Day on Mars (Bielska BWA Gallery in Bielsko-Biała, 2017), and Cosmic Generation (Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology in Kraków, 2023). Agatowska creates both sculptures installed in public spaces and those intended for indoor display. For her sculptural work, the artist has received numerous awards, including the Darmstädter Sezession Prize in Darmstadt, Germany (2008), and the Grand Prix at the 5th Rybie Oko Biennial of Young Art in Słupsk (2008). In 2013, she was honored with the City of Oświęcim Award in the field of culture. In 2018, she was named Personality of the Year in a poll conducted by “Gazeta Krakowska.” In 2022, she received the Director’s Award from the Historical Museum in Bielsko-Biała during the 5th Bielsko Festival of Visual Arts 2022.