Paweł Franciszek Jaskuła

Paweł Franciszek Jaskuła (b. 1993 in Poznań) is a visual artist, painter and photographer. He completed painting and photography at the Magdalena Abakanowicz University of the Arts in Poznań, defending in 2017 his MA diploma, the theoretical part of which - devoted to light - he wrote under the supervision of Professor Marta Smolińska. He was four times a holder of the rector's scholarship of the University of the Arts for the most outstanding students, and in 2015-2017 an assistant in the studio of Professor Józef Walczak.

Light is in his work both material and main theme. In 2019-2023 he belonged to the scientific-artistic group GOOD NIGHT COLLECTIVE, concerned with the problem of the light pollution of the night sky. This thread interweaves in Jaskuła's work with metaphysical reflection: in the cycle „#000000”, spread across many instalments, he conducted a polemic with the notion of black in itself - of black in painting and the status of the image as an object and a surface with a metaphysical potential. The title of the cycle, the conventional notation of the deepest black in graphics programs, is a symbol of an absolute black that physically cannot be achieved; hence references to the black hole and to the paradoxical dependence of light and shadow recur in his works. Most recently the artist takes up the concept of gold, money and material value in culture and art.

A laureate of the main prize of the competition of the Three Bridges Foundation in Warsaw (2016) and repeatedly nominated - including for the New Image / New Look award and Market Art - Jaskuła has taken part in numerous exhibitions, including as part of the Mediations Biennale in Poznań and at the Wozownia Gallery in Toruń. His works have also been shown in cross-sectional exhibitions on the culture of consumption and value, alongside works by classics of contemporary art. Represented by the Wiele Sztuki Gallery, he is one of the most interesting conceptual voices of the youngest generation, for which the image remains a field of philosophical inquiry.