Residency Unlimited program

October 1, 2024 – November​ 30, 2024

Skin Deep — ​​group exhibition featuring RU residents

Opening ​October 19, 2024​​, 11:00 AM–5:00 PM
On view 18 – 27 October, ​2024​​​, 11:00 AM–5:00 PM
Fridays through Sundays
RU House at Colonels Row Building #404B 
Governor’s Island, New York, NY ​10004

In an era marked by fractured identities and polarized discourse, particularly in the wake of global humanitarian crises, this exhibition underscores the urgency of resistance that preserves the authenticity of one’s voice amidst the socio-political forces seeking to dismantle it. Skin Deep, the final Residency Unlimited exhibition of the year at Governors Island—a space itself emblematic of transience, hosting artists from across the globe—this October brings together four European artists whose practices examine the body as a lyrical conduit for reflecting on the construct of selfhood.

Skin Deep reimagines the body as a vessel, constantly evolving yet deeply rooted in the complexities of trauma, memory, and identity. Through their works, Eros Dibra (Albania), Anna Orbaczewska (Poland), Viktor Petrov (Bulgaria, based in Berlin) and Milica Zhivkovic (Montenegro), navigate the body as a site of resistance, through strong visual expressions that bridge personal and collective histories.

The exhibition is curated by the Polish Cultural Institute New York Visual Arts curator, Izabela Gola. Learn more about the exhibition.

Anna Orbaczewska is taking part in the Residency Unlimited program from October 1 to November 30, 2024, during which the artist will work on a new series of ink drawings and establish connections with the art world in New York.

“Any artist should be, above all, true to oneself. To fulfill the expectations of others is to negate the art itself. Art should be free. Art should be interwoven with an artist’s life. When I make art, I want to find a visual language for what I am going through and take it along my inner journey—to translate the barrage of emotions and traumas into almost pictograms. I believe that art should address uncomfortable truths and rip the veils off dirty secrets, pain, and lies. There lies the strength and universal, relatable character of true art.

I make paintings and drawings, I create decorated objects and installations, such as tiled stoves or sets of painted porcelain plates. My works are marked by expressiveness and include fixed cultural images as a reflection of oppression and prejudice in order to reveal their other meanings. I move between different forms of painting and drawing that feature both rococo and expressionist references. My drawings on paper and plates rely on simple means to powerfully articulate problems related to everyday life, relationships with partners and children, as well as more profound spheres of consciousness. Art has always been an essential part of my life, especially in the form of painting and drawing. What I create is also very closely related to my life and my personal story. My art is an attempt to name the reality, to sublime its most important elements, and to find a form for it.”

Artist Name: Anna Orbaczewska
Residency Dates: October – November 2024
Born: 1974
Hometown: Bydgoszcz, Poland
Lives & Works: Gdańsk, Sopot, Poland
URL: orbaczewska.com | Instagram: @anna_orbaczewska
Gallery: Gallery lokal 30
Education: 1999 | MA in Painting, Academy Of Arts in Gdańsk, Poland
1998 | MA in Painting Royal Academy The Hague, The Netherlands

Bio

Anna Orbaczewska has received the Cultural Scholarship of the City of Gdańsk many times and the Scholarship of the Marshal of the Pomeranian Voivodeship for Creators of Culture. She is also a laureate of the program Kultura Polska na Świecie of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, as well as the Bremenkunst scholarship. In 2019, Anna Orbaczewska received the 2nd prize in the Wrocław Weltchschmerz Drawing Triennale competition. Her works are in the NOMUS collection of the New Museum of Art in Gdańsk, the National Museum in Gdańsk, the National Gallery in Sopot, as well as in many private collections.

Anna Orbaczewska’s work has been exhibited widely, including in the solo shows: Strange Feelings at Gallery lokal 30, Warsaw (2024); As If Nothing Had Happened at Biała Gallery, Lublin (2023); Traps and lures at Łaźnia Center for Contemporary Art, Gdansk (2021/2022); I don’t know how I should tell that at BWA Zielona Góra (2020); and Meeting Point 3 at Kobe Studio Y3, Kobe, Japan (2018).

Anna Orbaczewska has also participated in several group exhibitions, including: Sun Spots at Baltic Art Gallery, Ustka (2024); Witches at Other Society, Warsaw (2023); Rococo Madness at The National Museum, Wroclaw (2023-2024); Tender Debauchery at Gallery lokal 30, Warsaw, (2023); Sleepless in Warsaw at A.I.R Gallery, New York (2022); Take My Eyes at Gallery lokal 30, Warsaw (2022); Collection in Action at Nomus New Art Museum, Gdańsk (2021/2022); The Camel Never Forgets at Gallery lokal 30, Warsaw (2020); and in the 2019 Wrocław Weltchschmerz Drawing Trienniale Exhibition in which she won second prize.

Anna Orbaczewska’s residency is made possible with support from the Polish Cultural Institute New York and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. Carried out with the help of the City of Gdansk as a part of the cultural grant, and the scholarship of the Self-Government of the Pomeranian Voivodeship.

Lead image: ©Anna Orbaczewska “You have to adapt”, 50cm/70cm, oil on canvas, 2024.

Image credits:
reka przyjemnosciowa- “The Hand of Pleasure” 40cm/30cm, 2023,oil on canvas;
czerwonyobraz2. – Untitled 120cm/160cm- oil on canavs, 2023;
look what.. ” Look what happened to me” 30cm/30cm , oil on canvas, 2023;
Untitled, 100cm/100cm, oil on canvas, 2023;
“Nothing is as it seems”, 60cm/80cm, oil on canvas, 2024;
Untitled, 40cm/30cm, ink on paper, 2022
fear-   “Fear”  ,30cm/40cm, ink on paper, 2022
hug – “Hug” , 40cm/30cm, ink on paper, 2023;
Untitled, 30cm/40cm, in on paper, 2021
“I am just trying” 40cm/30cm, ink on paper, 2022;
palec boży “The Finger of God” – 40cm/30cm, ink on paper, 2022;