Łukasz Stokłosa

Łukasz Stokłosa (b. 1986) is a painter of the young generation, a graduate of the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts (diploma 2010 in the studio of Jacek Waltoś), regarded as one of the most talented and most original contemporary Polish artists. His first solo exhibition was „A Winter's Tale” at the Zderzak Gallery in Kraków (2011); for years he has also been associated with the Krupa Gallery in Wrocław, and his works have been shown in Poland and abroad.

Characteristic of Stokłosa's painting is a filmic aura of Romanticism and decadence, built with masterful chiaroscuro - „a painting of mood”. Recurring motifs are palace interiors and the gardens surrounding them, whose inhabitants are long gone, winter landscapes, portraits of film stars, and historical artefacts: coronation insignia, costumes, armour and the carriages of the rulers of modern Europe. His inspiration comes, among other things, from cinema (especially Visconti's „The Leopard”), and a separate thread he devoted to the figure of St Sebastian.

In 2014 Stokłosa's paintings were included in Kurt Beers's album „100 Painters of Tomorrow”, published by Thames & Hudson, presenting the most promising contemporary painters in the world. They were shown at, among others, MOCAK (the exhibition „Artists from Kraków. The Generation of 1980-90”, 2015), and in 2025 his exhibition „Elegies” at the Royal Castle on Wawel became the first full-fledged presentation of the work of a living artist in the history of the Jagiellonian residence.