Curating the APA Winter Exhibition 2025
Association of Polish Artists in Great Britain | POSK Gallery
It was both an honour and a deep pleasure to curate the APA Winter Exhibition 2025 alongside Gosia Wawrzyniuk for the Association of Polish Artists in Great Britain (APA). This year’s exhibition arrives with particular emotional weight, as we sadly said goodbye to our dear APA colleague Sławomir Blatton. Having his work included in the exhibition was not only a joy, but a meaningful tribute to his artistic legacy.
Sławomir Blatton was a respected and long-standing member of the Polish artistic community in the UK, known for his commitment to painting and graphic art, as well as his active involvement in APA exhibitions over many years. His practice was rooted in strong draughtsmanship and thoughtful composition, and his presence within the exhibition serves as a quiet yet powerful reminder of his contribution to Polish art in Britain.
Sławomir Blatton
Halka
Watercolour on Fabriano paper, 65 x 85cm
An Exhibition Beyond Expectations
The volume of submissions for this year’s Winter Exhibition exceeded all expectations. What was particularly striking was the noticeable shift away from stereotypical winter-themed subject matter traditionally associated with seasonal exhibitions. Instead, the selected works demonstrate a confident breadth of ideas, media, and conceptual approaches.
There has been a clear move towards landscape and nature, often explored symbolically or emotionally rather than descriptively. As curators, Malgorzata Kalinowska and I worked carefully to establish visual, symbolic, and colour relationships between the artworks, allowing the exhibition to flow cohesively despite its diversity.
A Strong Presence of Sculpture and 3D Practice
HUMAN and ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
No. 1
WSPÓŁISTNIENIE / COEXISTENCE
Amber, silver, motherboard (PCB)
2025
No. 2
CHAOS / CHAOS
Amber, motherboard (PCB), silver
2025
No. 3
PO PRZEŁOMIE / POST
BREAKTHROUGH
Motherboard (PCB), silver
2025
One of the most exciting developments this year was the remarkable increase in three-dimensional work. Sculptures in a wide range of materials were submitted, including found objects, traditional sculptural media, and contemporary processes. Notably, modern techniques such as 3D printing featured within the exhibition, highlighting how Polish artists continue to engage critically with technological change.
Among these works, Henryk Terpiłowski presented the strikingly minimalist yet subtly Surrealist sculpture Critical Eye, found objects, 36 × 23 × 23 cm, 2025. The work balances restraint with conceptual tension, inviting prolonged contemplation despite its modest scale.
Equally compelling was Andrzej Pacak’s jewellery, which ingeniously combines classical jewellery forms with computer components. His work offers a sharp, contemporary commentary on the rise of artificial intelligence and digital systems within both art and society.
Left:
Lost in Paradise
Jolanta Jagiello
Metal, Wood, Plastic
55 cm: H; 60 cm: L; 30cm: W.
2025
Right:
Henryk Terpiłowski
Critical Eye
Found objects, 36 x 23 x 23cm
2025
Painting, Politics, and Contemporary Dialogue
Top:
Ania Ruszkowski
Barszcz Soup
Screen print, limited edition, 29 x 42cm
2025
Bottom:
Ania Ruszkowski
Variation on Barszcz Soup
Digital print and design on tin
2025
Painting remains a strong foundation of the APA Winter Exhibition, yet this year it was often expanded through political, cultural, and historical lenses.
Ania Ruszkowski surprised audiences with a witty and incisive socio-political Pop Art response to Andy Warhol. Her works Barszcz Soup, screen print, limited edition, 29 × 42 cm, 2025 and Variation on Barszcz Soup, digital print and design on tin, 2025 explore Polish heritage, consumer culture, and historical politics with humour and critical intelligence.
In contrast, Joanna Ciechanowska presented the powerful and meditative painting Hell or High Water, oil on canvas, 100 × 79 cm, 2025. This large-scale work draws viewers into a deep winter stillness, encouraging reflection and quiet contemplation. The profound, dark blues resonate emotionally, creating an atmosphere that feels both introspective and immersive.
Joanna Ciechanowska
Hell or High Water
Oil on canvas, 100 x 79cm
2025
Curatorial Contribution: The Ghost of Winter
Maciej Jedrzejewski
The Ghost of Winter
ink on paper, 29 cm x 21 cm
2024
Alongside my curatorial role, I also contributed my own artwork to the APA Winter Exhibition 2025.
Maciej Jedrzejewski, The Ghost of Winter, ink on paper, 2024 is a work inspired by Sumi-e painting techniques and elements of Japanese folklore imagery.
Created in December of the previous year, the artwork explores winter as a cyclical force—a season that returns annually, carrying not only quiet beauty but also themes of hardship, endurance, and survival. Rather than presenting winter as purely aesthetic, the work reflects its darker, more demanding aspects: stillness, vulnerability, and persistence.
The piece was made during a period of personal health struggle, echoing the recurring cycle of illness and remission that has marked parts of my life. This rhythm—decline, recovery, and return—became embedded within the mark-making process itself, mirroring the way winter inevitably gives way to renewal, only to return again.
Hanging The Ghost of Winter in the exhibition while once more enjoying a period of good health felt deeply symbolic. It transformed the work from a private meditation into a shared moment of reflection, resilience, and quiet gratitude—an acknowledgement of survival, both personal and seasonal.
Curatorial Contribution: Frosty Shining
The exhibition also features a curatorial contribution by Gosia Wawrzyniuk, whose painting
Frosty Shining, oil on canvas, 40 × 50 cm, 2025 offers a quietly immersive reflection on winter landscape and memory.
Beautifully painted, the work draws the viewer inward through its carefully constructed perspective, inviting one to mentally step into the scene. The restrained palette of cold tones evokes the stillness of winter air, while the subtle modulation of light and shadow demonstrates a confident and sensitive handling of oil paint.
The painting resonates strongly with the atmosphere of the Polish countryside, recalling rural roads and familiar landscapes shaped by frost and silence. The shadows are executed with particular finesse, grounding the composition and enhancing its sense of depth. When viewed for an extended moment, Frosty Shining becomes almost sensory—allowing the viewer to imagine, and nearly feel, the coldness of the air itself.
Within the context of the APA Winter Exhibition 2025, the work exemplifies the exhibition’s broader shift towards nature and landscape, while also offering a deeply personal and evocative response to winter as both place and experience.
Gosia Wawrzyniuk
Frosty Shining
Oil on canvas, 40 × 50cm
2025
A Collective Voice
The strength of the APA Winter Exhibition 2025 lies in its collective voice. The exhibition brings together established and emerging artists whose practices span painting, sculpture, printmaking, jewellery, and mixed media.
Participating artists include:
Ania Pieniazek
Margaret Laird
Joanna Ciechanowska
Yolanta Gawlik
Pauline Rafal
Paweł Kordaczka
Elżbieta Smoleńska
Henryk Terpiłowski
Ania Ruszkowski
Manka Dowling Skibinska
Sławomir Blatton
Jolanta Jagiello
Olga Sienko
Andrzej Pacak
Cieszymir Bylina
Krystyna Dankiewicz
Wojciech A Sobczyński
Maciej Jedrzejewski
Gosia Wawrzyniuk
Louise Severyn-Kosinska
Agnieszka Handzel Kordaczka
Monica Wheeler
Ruth Miemczyk
Magdalena Kronenberg-Seweryn
Elżbieta Chojak Myśko
Marek Jakubowski
Maryla Podarewska-Jakubowski
Lana Krupowicz
Looking Ahead
I am very pleased to be returning in 2025 to curate the APA Winter Exhibition once again. This year’s show reflects an organisation that continues to evolve embracing experimentation, contemporary dialogue, and new technologies while remaining deeply connected to Polish cultural identity.
The APA Winter Exhibition 2025 is on display at POSK Gallery and remains open until 16 January 2026. Visitors are warmly encouraged to attend and experience the breadth, depth, and quiet power of this year’s exhibition.