PTOKWCUGU - a solo exhibition of Jakub Plączkowski

Opening: Thursday 29 September 2022, 5:00 p.m.
Exhibition open until: Thursday 10 November 2022

ArtBrut Gallery
& Studio for Socio-Cultural Inclusions
Wrocław, 46A Ruska Street

Exibition Artistic Mentor: Jarosław Słomski
Producer: Miriam Pawlęga

Jakub Plączkowski is a Wrocław-based artist and illustrator for several years now associated with the ArtBrut Gallery & Studio. His works reflect his fascination with Upper Silesia, his beloved city Zabrze and jazz music. He also draws series devoted to trams and trains. In all his works, absurd humour is mixed with real landscapes and events. Original colours and industrial landscapes accompany the expressive characters of his drawings. In his works, Jakub Plączkowski restores magic to everyday life, while Upper Silesia appears in them as a mysterious land where anything can happen.
Thanks to his friendship with musician Piotr Damasiewicz, he has been working for many years with the music collective L.A.S., for whom he has created a series of album covers.

Exhibitions:
WROCŁAW TRAMS IN MY EYES. Individual exhibition in the space of ANTE ROOM H13, Wrocław 2019;
BEYOND TABOO VII. ANXIETY AND FEAR. A collective exhibition of artists associated with ArtBrut Gallery & Studio, Wrocław 2020;
'Shoo!' – The Exhibition of the Epidemic Time. A collective exhibition of artists associated with the ArtBrut Gallery and Studio, Wrocław 2020;
BEYOND TABOO VIII. THE END AND THE BEGINNING. collective exhibition of artists associated with the ArtBrut Gallery & Studio, Wrocław 2021;
IN PENCIL AND CRAYON. Individual exhibition at Centrum na Przedmieściu, Wrocław 2022.

Jakub Plączkowski's exhibition will be the first retrospective presentation of works by the artist.

Jakub Plączkowski boards the train and heads towards his favourite compartment. He politely greets the travellers and takes a seat at the designated number. He waits impatiently for the train to depart. Outside the window, the conductor waves her flag in all directions, dances and plays her whistle. On the platform, a trumpeter plays a tune to start the engine of the locomotive. The train moves off, and the red neon sign of Wrocław Główny shrinks behind the window. The direction is Upper Silesia
The train that Jakub Plączkowski travels on penetrates bathrooms, living rooms, relaxation rooms, courtyards, common rooms and staircases. It fits in a lift, can go seven hundred metres underground, and enters a doctor's surgery without knocking. He takes part in recording laundry detergent commercials, inspects heating systems, changes cassettes in tape recorders. He adds coal to the bucket, forms the smoke from the chimneys, controls the right proportion of foam and beer in the pint. He keeps company with a nun sipping wine in a pub, witnesses spouses' arguments and fishing out wine bottles from the TV set with a fishing rod. He invites animals with hooves to play guitar for beautiful women, knows which ankle the conductor has sprained and what she does when he doesn't have to be at work. He knows which tooth the donkey has lost and what it does when the Hanyses’ cigarette goes out. He trains rams to become boxers and then, with their help, disciplines drunken miners. He assists in the flight of UFO ships over Zabrze and realises that aliens only come out of the wardrobe when there is a cake nearby. He turns toilets into coin launchers and is also able to stop at the right platform of a railway station.

Jarosław Słomski

Curatorial text. A solo exhibition by Jakub Plączkowski PTOKWCUGU

Jarosław Słomski (born 1994 in Pyskowice) graduated in sculpture from the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław in 2021. He mainly uses sculpture, object, installation and performance in his work. He comes from Upper Silesia, which is what he talks about in his recent realisations. The meeting of Jakub Plączkowski and his fascination with Upper Silesia resulted in a collaboration between the artists.