Artist: Zofia Pałucha
Exhibition title: Gentle Penetration
Venue: Piktogram, Warsaw, Poland
Date: January 25 – May 23, 2020
Photography: Bartosz Górka / all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Piktogram, Warsaw
When she walks into the park, which is dimly lit with the purple glow of the streetlights, her phone slips out of her hand and lands right in the mud. In this strange light, the mud glistens now like crude oil, now like tempting chocolate. A notification with a heart symbol flashes at the bottom of the still-illuminated screen. At the top of the screen, a news ticker tells her that the Americans have again killed some devil. She picks up the phone. It’s already caught some moisture and is going crazy. The recently closed tabs reopen, Lil Nas X’s latest video playing in turns with a kimchi recipe. She cleans the screen with a wet wipe and puts the phone in the pocket of her silver bomber jacket.
A small girl sits on an old wooden chair in the waiting room of a shabby hospital, watching cartoons on her cell phone. She looks like she can’t walk or talk yet, but she is very adept at using the phone. She’s set the sound at maximum volume, and the shrill voices of the fairytale characters can be heard all over the corridor. Everyone is so surprised at the sight that they don’t react, even if the noise is unbearable. Her teenage mother stands outside, facing away from her daughter, smoking a cigarette. The sun shines nicely in her bleached, nearly white hair.
A poster hangs on the wall behind the girl. Part of a healthy-lifestyle and active-living campaign, it shows a slender woman in her fifties with crow’s feet around her eyes jogging through a park. It looks like it’s the same park.
Zofia Pałucha (b. 1993 in Częstochowa) lives and works in Wrocław. She graduated magna cum laude with a degree in Painting from the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts, where she studied with Professor Stanisław Baj.
Zofia Pałucha, Gentle Penetration, 2020, exhibition view, Piktogram, Warsaw
Zofia Pałucha, Gentle Penetration, 2020, exhibition view, Piktogram, Warsaw
Zofia Pałucha, Gentle Penetration, 2020, exhibition view, Piktogram, Warsaw
Zofia Pałucha, Gentle Penetration, 2020, exhibition view, Piktogram, Warsaw
Zofia Pałucha, Gentle Penetration, 2020, exhibition view, Piktogram, Warsaw
Zofia Pałucha, Gentle Penetration, 2020, exhibition view, Piktogram, Warsaw
Zofia Pałucha, Gentle Penetration, 2020, exhibition view, Piktogram, Warsaw
Zofia Pałucha, Gentle Penetration, 2020, exhibition view, Piktogram, Warsaw
Zofia Pałucha, Gentle Penetration, 2020, exhibition view, Piktogram, Warsaw
Zofia Pałucha, Gentle Penetration, 2020, exhibition view, Piktogram, Warsaw
Zofia Pałucha, Gentle Penetration, 2020, exhibition view, Piktogram, Warsaw
Zofia Pałucha, Gentle Penetration, 2020, exhibition view, Piktogram, Warsaw
Zofia Pałucha, Gentle Penetration, 2020, exhibition view, Piktogram, Warsaw
Zofia Pałucha, Gentle Penetration, 2020, exhibition view, Piktogram, Warsaw
Zofia Pałucha, Gentle Penetration, 2020, exhibition view, Piktogram, Warsaw
Zofia Pałucha, Gentle Penetration, 2020, exhibition view, Piktogram, Warsaw
Zofia Pałucha, Gentle Penetration, 2020, exhibition view, Piktogram, Warsaw
Zofia Pałucha, Gentle Penetration, 2020, exhibition view, Piktogram, Warsaw
Zofia Pałucha, Gentle Penetration, 2020, exhibition view, Piktogram, Warsaw
Zofia Pałucha, Gentle Penetration, 2020, exhibition view, Piktogram, Warsaw
Zofia Pałucha, Gentle Penetration, 2020, exhibition view, Piktogram, Warsaw
Zofia Pałucha, Gentle Penetration, 2020, exhibition view, Piktogram, Warsaw
Zofia Pałucha, Gentle Penetration, 2020, exhibition view, Piktogram, Warsaw
Zofia Pałucha, Gentle Penetration, 2020, exhibition view, Piktogram, Warsaw
Zofia Pałucha, 00 max, 2020, oil on canvas, 200 x 150 cm
Zofia Pałucha, You Can’t Quit on a Bad Day, 2020, oil on canvas, 200 x 150 cm
Zofia Pałucha, I Put Homophobes in Coffins, 2019, oil on canvas, 200 x 150 cm
Zofia Pałucha, I Crash U Crash, 2019, oil on canvas, 200 x 150 cm
Zofia Pałucha, Mother Nature, 2019, oil on canvas, 200 x 150 cm
Zofia Pałucha, Teardrop, 2019, oil on canvas, 120 x 100 cm
Zofia Pałucha, The Network Itself Is Seductive, 2019, oil on canvas, 120 x 100 cm
Zofia Pałucha, I’m Done, 2019, oil on canvas, 120 x 100 cm
Zofia Pałucha, Banana Tree, 2020, coloured pencil on paper, 50 x 40 cm
Zofia Pałucha, Chocolate, 2020, coloured pencil on paper, 50 x 40 cm
Zofia Pałucha, Rainbow, 2019, coloured pencil on paper, 50 x 40 cm
Zofia Pałucha, Ghark!, 2019, coloured pencil on paper, 50 x 40 cm
Zofia Pałucha, Hard Nipples and Dreams of Disappearance, 2019, coloured pencil on paper, 50 x 40 cm
Zofia Pałucha, In the Place of Natural Light Are the Fireworks of Fascism, 2019, coloured pencil on paper, 50 x 40 cm
Zofia Pałucha, Untitled 1, 2019, coloured pencil on paper, 50 x 40 cm
Zofia Pałucha, Untitled 2, 2019, coloured pencil on paper, 50 x 40 cm
Zofia Pałucha, Untitled 3, 2019, coloured pencil on paper, 50 x 40 cm
Zofia Pałucha, Constantly Emerging Evidence, 2019, coloured pencil on paper, 50 x 40 cm
Zofia Pałucha, The Network Itself Is Seductive, 2019, coloured pencil on paper, 50 x 40 cm
Zofia Pałucha, Death as Adornment, 2019, coloured pencil on paper, 50 x 40 cm
Zofia Pałucha, Remorse, 2019, coloured pencil on paper, 50 x 40 cm
Zofia Pałucha, Breaking Down Ideological and Social Barriers, 2019, coloured pencil on paper, 50 x 40 cm
Zofia Pałucha, The Body Is a Straitjacket that Must Be Escaped 01, 2019, coloured pencil on paper, 50 x 40 cm
Zofia Pałucha, The Body Is a Straitjacket that Must Be Escaped 02, 2019, coloured pencil on paper, 50 x 40 cm
Zofia Pałucha, Two Gin-scented Tears, 2019, coloured pencil on paper, 29,7 x 42 cm
