Martyna Czech

Martyna Czech (b. 1990 in Tarnów) is a painter regarded as one of the most uncompromising figures of contemporary Polish painting. She graduated from the Faculty of Art of the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice, defending in 2017 her diploma with distinction in the Painting Studio of Professor Andrzej Tobis; in parallel she studied at the University of Silesia, where she received a diploma in the art of writing.

Her painting resonates formally and thematically with the new expression of the 1980s, yet over the irony characteristic of that current pessimism and radical misanthropy prevail in her work. From Czech's canvases there emanates a pure, unrestrained energy of struggle; they are not pictures for calm viewing but for confrontation - including with the viewer's own fears and limitations. The artist herself repeats that she is interested in extreme states and feelings, and treats painting as an attempt to work through her own complicated relationships with other people.

Her work is marked by a posthumanist perspective. Czech is not afraid to reveal the truth about violence and human cruelty; when the human being becomes the negative protagonist of a picture, the victim of his stupidity is often a defenceless animal, in whose defence the artist consistently stands. This uncompromising stance is also underlined by the provocative, blunt titles of the works.

Czech's talent was recognised very early. While still a student she won the Grand Prix - the Award of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage - at the 42nd Painting Biennale „Bielska Jesień 2015”, the oldest painting competition in Poland. She was a finalist of the Biennale of Young Art „Rybie Oko 9” (2017) and a laureate of the Trójka Talents (2017), in 2019 she received a nomination for the Polityka Passports, and in 2020 - a distinction in the 13th Eugeniusz Geppert Competition.

She has shown her works at numerous exhibitions in Poland and abroad - including „Paint Means Blood” at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, „Monkey-rat” at the Rondo Sztuki in Katowice, „The Pleasure of Communing” at the Krupa Gallery in Wrocław and „The Storm is Blowing from Paradise” at the Loft 8 Galerie in Vienna. Her intense, emotional painting - which, they say, one either loves or hates - makes Czech one of the strongest and most recognisable voices of her generation.