Processing

The Polish title Przetwórczość is a wordplay referring both to “processing” and to homemade fruit preserves - jams, juices or tinctures. The title draws on an analogy proposed by critic Piotr Policht, who compared the process of creating Piotr C. Kowalski’s Natural Paintings to the making of preserves: transforming fragments of reality, nature and everyday life into painterly matter.

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Kowalski’s work emerges from a constant return to the question of what a painting is and what can still happen within it. The artist moves between different traditions: from neo-avant-garde practices (conceptual art, Fluxus, informel, performance) to sensitivities close to posthumanist thought - incorporating them into a practice that remains consistently painterly. What becomes most important here is the process itself: openness to chance, trust in time and acceptance of nature’s participation. “I paint for the pure pleasure of painting, not in order to produce a painting,” the artist once wrote.

“Processing” is a cross-sectional presentation of works by Piotr C. Kowalski, focused on the process of image-making and on how the understanding of painting changes throughout the artist’s subsequent works. Alongside his works, the exhibition features pieces by six artists - Basia Bańda, Piotr Macha, Paweł Matyszewski, Piniak Przemysław, Hanna Shumska and Weronika Teplicka, who were once connected to his X Painting Studio at the University of the Arts Poznań, formerly the Academy of Fine Arts.

Their presence does not create a narrative of dependence. Rather, it reveals the continuation of relationships, the memory of encounters and conversations with the professor, which over time became important reference points for distinct and autonomous painterly languages.

Curator: Zofia Nycz
Exhibition: 22.05-30.06.2026

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