Leon Tarasewicz was born in 1957. Painter. He is a graduate of the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts, with a degree in the studio of Prof. Tadeusz Dominik (1984). From 1996 to 2022, he had run a painting studio at his alma mater.

He debuted in 1984 with an exhibition at Warsaw’s Foksal Gallery. In his work, he firmly rejects all allusiveness, avoiding the painterly “literature”, leaving his paintings untitled. In recent years, he has been creating “total” paintings, artistic environments that claim the entire exhibition space. He represented Poland at the 49th Venice Biennale.

Laureate of the Paszport Polityki award (2000), Jan Cybis Prize (2000), Nowosielski Foundation Prize (2000), The Gieysztor Prize (2018), and many others.

He lives and works in Waliły, Poland.

 

Selected solo exhibitions:

2022

Leon Tarasewicz, Galeria Ego, Poznań, PL

Wysiedlenie. Leon Tarasewicz, Galeria 66P, Wrocław, PL

2020

Expo 2020, Dubaj, AE

Leon Tarasewicz, Galeria Monopol, Warszawa, PL

Leon Tarasewicz, Galeria Artemis, Kraków, PL

2018

Jerusalem, Foksal Gallery, Warsaw, PL

Muzeum Architektury, Wrocław, PL

Zaleszany, Leon Tarasewicz, Małgorzata Dmitruk, Arsenal Municipal Gallery, Poznań, PL

2017

School Works 1972–1977, Galeria Liceum Plastycznego, Supraśl, PL

Supraska Academy, Supraśl, PL

2016

Confrontations, Galeria EL, Elbląg, PL

Light of Paintings, Ego Gallery, Poznań, PL

Waliły-Kraków-Waliły, Central Railway Station, Kraków, PL

2015

Sztuka do miejsca. Modry/Art for the place. Modry, Silesian Museum, Katowice, PL

2014

Painting, State Art Gallery, Sopot, PL

Open Door, Ego Gallery, Poznań, PL

2013

Leon Tarasewicz – Limits of painting – Limits of a gallery, Galeria Biała, Lublin, PL

2011

Back to the Landscape, realization on Main Market Square, Kielce, PL

2010

Realisation, Golden Gate, Kiev, UA

2009

Galeria Miejska, Pasaż Tertila, Tarnów, PL

New Paintings, Biełaruski Tryjaloh, Socrates Villa Association, Łapicze, BY

Art New Media Gallery, Warsaw, PL

2008

National Museum, Wrocław, PL

Recent Paintings, Galeria Rubin, Milan, IT

2007

Upper, Silesian Museum, Bytom

Leon Tarasewicz, Polish Institute, Budapest, HU

Museen für Kunst und Kulturesischte, Lübeck, DE

2006

Kunsthalle St. Annen Lübeck, Lübeck, DE

Foksal Gallery, Warsaw, PL

Galerie Grashey, Constance, CH

2005

Polnisches Institut, Berlin, DE

Springer & Winckler Galerie, Berlin, DE

Galeria Biała, Lublin, PL

2004

Galeria Biała, Lublin, PL

Gary Tatintsian Gallery, New York, USA

2003

La Criée centre d’art contemporain, Rennes, FR

Galeria Rubin, Milan, IT

Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, PL

2002

Fioretto Arte Contemporanea, Padua, IT

Galeria Muzeum Śląska Opolskiego, Opole, PL

Polonisches Institute, Berlin; Galerie Nordenhake, Berlin, DE

2001

Gary Tatintsian Gallery, New York, USA

Ego Gallery, Poznań, PL

Galleria del Cavallino, Venice, IT

Polish Pavilion, 49th International Art Exhibition Biennale, Venice, IT

La Casina di Gorizzo, Friuli, IT

Villa Tre Gelsi, San Martino di Codroipo, IT

Galeria Biala, Lublin, PL

Aula Gallery, Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw, PL

Starmach Gallery, Kraków, PL

Galerie Springer & Winckler, Berlin, DE

Galerie Nordenhake, Berlin, DE

2000

Foksal Gallery, Warsaw, PL

Salon Wystawowy Bagatt, Warsaw, PL

Kunstraum Neuruppin, Neuruppin, DE

1999

Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, PL

Galerie Nordenhake, Stockholm, SE

Galleri Sölvberget, Stavanger, NO

Gallery of Dom Artysty Plastyka, Warsaw, PL

1998

Springer & Winckler Galerie, Berlin, DE

Galerie Metta Linde, Lübeck, DE

1997

Galerie S65, Aalst, BE

Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, PL

Galerie Stefan Andersson, Umeå, SE

Galerie Metta Linde, Lübeck, DE

1996

Springer & Winckler Galerie, Frankfurt am Mein, DE

Galerie Nordenhake, Stockholm, SE

1995

Galeria Biała, Lublin

Górnośląskie Museum, Bytom, PL

Paintings 1983-1994, Galeria Sztuki Współczesnej BWA, Katowice, PL

BWA Gallery Arsenal, Bialystok, PL

1994

Springer & Winckler, Frankfurt am Mein, DE

Foksal Gallery, Warsaw, PL

1993

Springer & Winckler Galerie, Frankfurt, DE

Galerie Nordenhake, Stockholm, SE

Palace of Art, Minsk, BY

1992

Istituto Polacco di Cultura, Rome, IT

Malmö Konsthall, Malmö, SE

1991

Galeria Krzysztofory, Kraków, PL

State Museum, Bialystok, PL

Galerie Nordenhake, Stockholm, SE

Foksal Gallery, Warsaw, PL

Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, IL

1990

Galerie Fahnemann, Berlin, DE

1989

Galerie Nordenhake, Stockholm, SE

Nigel Greenwood Gallery, London, UK

Galleria del Cavallino, Venice, IT

1988

National Museum, Wroclaw, PL

Foksal Gallery, Warsaw, PL

Exhibition Hall, Grodno, PL

Palace of Art, Minsk, BY

1987

Edward Thorp Gallery, New York, USA

Damon Brandt Gallery, New York, USA

Gallery BWA Arsenal, Bialystok, PL

1986

Galerie Nordenhake, Malmö, SE

Galleria del Cavallino, Venice, IT

Riverside Studios, London, UK

Boibrino Gallery, Stockholm, SE

Galerie Nordenhake, Stockholm, SE

1985

Dziekanka Gallery, Warsaw, PL

Foksal Gallery, Warsaw, PL

Galeria Biala, Lublin, PL

1984

Dziekanka Gallery, Warsaw, PL

White Russian Culture Society, Warsaw, PL

Foksal Gallery, Warsaw, PL

 

Selected group exhibitions

2018

Beyond Cybis, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, PL

2017

À la frontière. Senos ir naujos Eutopos sienos, Jono Gatvés Galerija, Vilnius, LT

What About the Abstraction?, Stefan Gierowski Foundation, Warsaw, PL

Ten by Ten, CFHILLI, Stockholm, SE

2016

Odejście – 9. Wystawa Kuratorska Bielskiej Jesieni 2016, BWA Bielska Gallery, Bielsko-Biała, PL

New illustrations, Arsenal Gallery, Białystok, PL

Pankiewicz and After… Releasing colour, Lubelskie Museum, Lublin, PL

A Place. Scene III, Robert Maciejuk, Leon Tarasewicz, Włodzimierz J. Zakrzewski, Foksal Gallery, Warsaw, PL

À la frontière…! Old and New Borders in Europe, Gallery Podroom – Cultural Centre, Belgrad, RS

À la fronitère…! Old and New Borders in Europe, Biennale d’Arte Trieste Contemporanea, Studio Tommaseo, Triest, IT

2015

Łemkowskie Jeruzalem. Triple Self-portrait, Art Gallery, Legnica, PL

White Transformation, Galeria Biała, Lublin, PL

Through Realism and Abstraction: Modzelewski and Tarasewicz, Givon Art Gallery, Tel Aviv, IL

2014

Specimen, Masovian Centre of Contemporary Art Elektrownia, Radom, PL

Art Festival in Public Space Open City/Otwarte Miasto, Lublin, PL

2013

The Golden Mean, Ego Gallery, Poznań, PL

The Splendour of Textiles, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, PL

UNI/JA-UNI/ON, Art Festival in Public Space Open City/Otwarte Miasto, kaplica Św. Trójcy, Lublin, PL

2012

Void, BWA Contemporary Art Gallery “Sokół”, Nowy Sącz, PL

2011

Side by Side. Poland – Germany. A 1000 Years of Art and History, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, DE

Przenikania, aTak Gallery, Warsaw; Salon Akademii Gallery, Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw, PL

2010

Contemporary Art Collection of National Museum in Wrocław, Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Warsaw, PL

2009

Polish Landscape from Arsenal Gallery in Białystok Collection and Podlaskie Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts, Museum of Contemporary Art, Minsk, BY

International Collection of Contemporary Art. 5th Edition, Zamek Ujazdowski Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, PL

Realization at Caldogno, Vicenza, IT created as a part of a group exhibition prepared by the Guggenheim Museum, Venice, IT

Enter-Escape, 5. International Festival of Visual Arts “Inspiracje 2009”, Szczecin, PL

2008

100% of Painting, Painting Department, Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw, PL

Planks, Images, Words, Nowa Gallery, Poznań, PL

General Renovation, Galeria Biała Centrum Kultury, Lublin, PL

Changes Records. Polish Art from Krzysztof Musiał Collection, National Museum, Poznań, PL

Tarasewicz Studio at Andalusia, Galeria aTak, Warsaw, PL

2007

Asteism — Joke and authority, Program Gallery, Warsaw, PL

2006

Polish Painting of the 21st Century, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, PL

In Poland, That Is Where?, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, PL

2005

Warsaw-Moskow 1900-2000, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, PL

Masters of Painting 1904-2004 at Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw, National Museum, Warsaw, PL

Collection of Polish Art of XX Century, National Museum, Kraków, PL

Happy Christmas, Arsenal Gallery, Białystok, PL

2004

Distances?, Le Plateau, Paris, FR

Leidenschaft und Ordnung, Polonische Institute, Düsseldorf, DE

Immersion, Centre for Contemporary Art, Kyiv, UA

Duty and Riot, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, PL

Professors of Painting Department, Studio Gallery, Warsaw, PL

Inc. The art towards corporate taking over places of public expression (in Poland), Program Gallery, Warsaw, PL

Presentation 3, Górnośląskie Museum, Bytom, PL

2003

Stockholm Art Fair, Stockholm, SE

Decade, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw and State Museum of Leon Wyczółkowski, Bydgoszcz, PL

Sol Invictus, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, PL

Pro Pictura, Xawery Dunikowski Museum of Sculpture, Królikarnia, National Museum Department, Warsaw, PL

Presentation 3, Ujazdowski Castle, Centre for Contemporary Art; The Silesian Museum, Katowice, PL

2002

Polacos — El nou art de Polonia, Capella de l’Antic Hospital de la Santa Creu, Barcelona, ES

Polish Art of Object, President Gallery, Warsaw, PL

Collection, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, PL

Arsenal Gallery Collection, Galeria Sektor I, Katowice, PL

2001

In Between: Art from Poland 1945-2000, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, USA

Negotiators of Art Against Reality, Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contemporary Art, Kraków, PL

Here & Now, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, PL

International Collection of Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, PL

2000

Between Esthetics and Metaphysics, Galeria Bielska BWA, Bielsko-Biala, PL

Positionen, Galerie Linde, Lübeck, DE

Cracovian Meetings 2000, Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contemporary Art, Kraków, PL

Paintings, Center for Contemporary Art, Kiev, UA

Slawomir Belina, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, PL

Verteidigung der Moderne, Museum Würth, Künzelsau, DE

Die vier Jahreszeiten, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, DE

Landscapes, National Museum, Warsaw, PL

1999

Three Visions, Contemporary Polish Art, Tufts University Gallery, Medford, UK

White Art, Arsenal Municipal Gallery, Poznań, PL

Toyama Now ’99, The Museum of Modern Art, Toyama, JP

Aspects/Positions. 50 Years of Art in Central Europe 1949-1999, mumok – Museum Moderner Kunst Stifung Ludwig, Vienna, AT; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Budapest, HU, Fundació Miro, Barcelona, ES; City Gallery, Southampton, UK; National Gallery, Prague, CZ

1998

Oikos, State Museum, Bytom; State Museum, Bydgoszcz; Arsenal Gallery, Bialystok, PL

Tomasz Ciecierski, Leon Tarasewicz, Galerie Grashey, Konstanz, DE

Springer & Winckler, Frankfurt, DE

Fragment of Collection 3, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, PL

Artists of Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, State Museum, Toruń, PL

1997

Contempoary Art from Poland, Galerie Vývarného Umeni, Ostrava, CZ

Collection 3, Ujazdowski Castle Centre of Contemporary Art, Warsaw, PL

Horizons, Sonje Museum of Contemporary Art, Kwangju; Kwangju Museum of Contemporary Art, Kwangju; Chosun Iibo Gallery, Seoul, KR

Styki/Contact Prints, Foksal Gallery, Warsaw, PL

1996

Art and Nature, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, PL

Horizons 14. Polish Contemporary Artists, Sonje Museum of Contemporary Art, Kwangju, KR

Lengyelország, Müveszet 1945-1996, Mücsarnok, Budapest, HU

Oikos, State Museum, Bydgoszcz, PL

1995

Tomasz Ciecierski, Leon Tarasewicz, Tomasz Tatarczyk, Foksal Gallery, Warsaw, PL

Collection of Leon Wyczółkowski State Museum in Bydgoszcz, Arsenal Gallery, Białystok, PL

Exhibition of Contemporary Art In-Forma-Tion-95, Museum Sztuki, Vitebsk, BY

1994

National Museum, Poznań, PL

Collection 2, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, PL

Sandstorm, BWA Contemporary Art Gallery, Katowice, PL

Landschaften, Castello di Rivara, Rivara, IT

Collection, BWA Arsenal Gallery, Białystok, PL

Inconto a Eklisia, Gümüslük, Bodrum, TU

Kunstverein Freiburg e.V., Freiburg, DE

Der Riss im Raum, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, DE; Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw; National Gallery, Prague, CZ

Figur, Natur, Sprengel Museum, Hannover, DE

Givon Art Gallery, Tel Aviv, IL

1993

Bilans-Balans, Galeria Biała, Lublin, PL

Eva J. Pape – Polish Culture Cultivator in USA, Galeria Stara Kordegarda, Warsaw, PL

1992

Collection 1, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, PL

The Expressive Struggle, Anderson Gallery, New York, USA

1991

Tre giovani artisti, Galleria del Cavallino, Venice, IT

Positionen Polen, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, DE

Europe Unknown, Palace of Art, Kraków, PL

Kunst Europa, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn, DE

David Nash & Leon Tarasewicz, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, PL

1990

Tre Giovani Artisti e un Maestro di Serigrafia, Galleria del Cavllino, Venice, IT

Polonische Malerei der 80er Jahre, Opera, Leipzig, DE

Polen Zeit Kunst, Landesmuseum, Mainz; Kronprinzenpalais, Berlin; St. Augustin, Bonn, DE

22e Festival International de la Peinture 1990, Chateau — Musée de Cagnes sur Mer, FR

Rauma Biennale Balticum, Rauma Art Museum, Rauma, FI

Dialogue, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, PL

The Expressive Struggle, Everson Museum of Art of Syracuse, Syracuse, The Polish Museum of America, Chicago, USA

Works on Paper, Nigel Greenwood Gallery, London, UK

1989

Dialog, Kunstmuseum, Düsseldorf, DE

Polská malerska tvorba ’80, Gallery of Art, Karlove Vary, CZ

Vision and Unity, Van Reekum Museum, Apeldoorn, NL

L’Occhio della Galleria, Galleria San Marco, Venice, IT

Wurzeln Treiben, Kuntscheraus, Berlin, DE

1988

Aperto ’88, 43rd International Art Exhibition Biennale, Venice, IT

Olympiad of Art, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, KR

Triennal of Young Art, Palace of Art, Vilnius, LT

Art at the Edge, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, UK

Polish Realities, Third Eye Centre, Glasgow, UK

1987

XIX Biennal Internacional de Arte, Sao Paulo, BR

What’s Going On?, The Former Norblin Factory, Warsaw, PL

Radical Realism, Concrete Abstraction, National Museum, Warsaw, PL

1986

Poland Painting, Ashley Gallery, Epsom, UK

Overland, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK

The Forest, Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol, UK

Art from Poland, Galerie Nouvelles Images, The Hague, NL

1985

Diploma ’84, BWA Gallery, Wroclaw, PL

40 Years of LSP, Arsenal Gallery, Białystok, PL

Ex Oriente Lux, Dziekanka Gallery, Warsaw, PL

Four Foksal Gallery Artists, Richard Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh, UK

Dialogue, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, SE