Wanda Golkowska
Wanda Golkowska was born in Rzeszow, Poland. She studied at the Wroclaw University and the Academy of Fine Arts in Wroclaw, Poland. She participated in many important exhibitions including 40 solo exhibitions in Poland and abroad. She also took part in 300 international group exhibitions, symposiums, and artistic actions. Her works are in the museums and private collections in Poland and Europe. Golkowska is a Professor of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wroclaw. She took part in the Polish neo-avantguarde of the 60s and 70s. Her works are strongly connected with Conceptualism, Structuralism and Op-art rooted in Polish Constructivism. She was part of the legendary Mona Lisa Gallery in Wroclaw, Poland. In her artist's statement, Golkowska says: CREATION means the introduction of one's own definitions of values, the free and unrestricted construction of the world in terms of philosophical structures, shaping up the systems of thoughts, transforming and denotating, carrying into effect new ideas, conveying the notion of the intellectual space of a human being.
Excerpt from the essay; The Mona Lisa Gallery by Marcin Lachowski: The Mona Lisa Gallery in Wroclaw curated by Jerzy Ludwinski in 60s illustrated well the direction of changes in Polish art of the decade. In that period we encountered a particular crisis of the autonomous and integral structure of the work of art. At the same time there was an increasing activity of artistic circles creating group performances at plein-air painting sessions, artistic symposiums and independent author's galleries. These galleries, including The Mona Lisa Gallery, played special role at this time; they all witnessed disintegration of the work of art and stimulated the process of breaking up with the traditional concept of the artwork. (...) The first three exhibitions of artworks by Zdzislaw Jurkiewicz, Wanda Golkowska and Henryk Stazewski illustrated, in Ludwinski's opinion, a tendency to break autonomous structure of painting towards creative process and development of new artistic concepts. Other important exhibitions of Jerzy Rosolowicz, Jan Chwalczyk and Stanislaw Drozdz artworks were questioning the status of object in space of the gallery. On the other hand, Wlodzimierz Borowski's and Feliks Szyszko's actions were shaking the traditional relationships between the artist, work of art and the viewer. Predicting changes in art of 60s Ludwinski in his essay: Sztuka w epoce postartystycznej (Art in the post-artistic epoch) postulated introduction of the term: impossible art to define art as a form of activity which eliminates the boundry between artistic fact and reality.The institution that would stimulate development of this post-artistic activity should be Centrum Badan Artystycznych, The Centre for Artistic Studies (c). Ludwinski and artists from the Mona Lisa Gallery circle formulated its program during Sympozjum Plastyczne Wroclaw '70 (Visual Symposium Wroclaw '70). The Centre should serve as a hub for the movement of artistic ideas and exchange among various artistic circles. Unfortunatelly the plan concerning the Centre was never accomplished.
