Irena Bilkowska's drawings complemented the exhibition Ports of Unrest
For the last week, the exhibition of Polish Art Brut, The Harbours of Unrest, has expanded to another space of the Museum of Modern Art – the café. There, visitors can see drawings by Irena Bilkowska and two costumes made by Dorota Długosz based on these drawings.
Dorota Długosz’s models are the leitmotif of the first MUO gala, which will take place on Saturday in the newly renovated CENTRAL. The ball will be enriched by a fashion show of these models and a photographic exhibition by Tereza Hrubá Vepisáno klikou, which shows models in Dorota Długosz costumes in the environment of the Archdiocesan Museum.
Irena Bilkowska
Irena Bilkowska was born on 1 June 1984 in Płock, the last of six children. She lived with her parents and siblings until she was nineteen and attended the Jagiellonian School in Płock. She later changed her residence several times, finally settling in the centre of Płock, where she lives with her partner now. Today, she works in a dairy bar as an assistant cook and waitress. Since her school years she has been drawing. She made her first creative clothing designs for her sister, who was learning to be a seamstress. Her interest in drawing persists and she devotes most of her free time to it. She is always creating new and new designs for dresses, suits, ensembles and costumes.
Andrzej Kwasiborski, one of the biggest specialists and collectors of Art Brut in Poland, was fascinated by Irena Bilkowska’s obsessive work. The works found their way into his collection and from there, examples of Bilkowska’s work first appeared in two exhibitions of Art Brut from the collections of the Moravian collector Pavel Konečný from Olomouc and the Polish collector Andrzej Kwasiborski from Płock (K2 – Dom Darmstadt, Płock, October 2021 and Art brut Brno – Galerie Česká spořitelna Gallery in Brno, May – July 2022). Andrzej Kwasiborski’s wish to hold a solo exhibition of Irena Bilkowska was fulfilled at the end of 2023, at Dom Darmstadt in Płock, where Kwasiborski has been presenting works by selected art brut artists from his collection for ten years already. The exhibition curated by Andrzej Kwasiborski and Radosław Łabarzewski, entitled Pokaz mody Ireny Bilkowskiej (Irena Bilkowska’s Fashion Show), has become an attractive project also thanks to the costume models by Dorota Długosz inspired by Bilkowska’s drawings.
Irena Bilkowska
Irena Bilkowska was born on 1 June 1984 in Płock, the last of six children. She lived with her parents and siblings until she was nineteen and attended the Jagiellonian School in Płock. She later changed her residence several times, finally settling in the centre of Płock, where she lives with her partner now. Today, she works in a dairy bar as an assistant cook and waitress. Since her school years she has been drawing. She made her first creative clothing designs for her sister, who was learning to be a seamstress. Her interest in drawing persists and she devotes most of her free time to it. She is always creating new and new designs for dresses, suits, ensembles and costumes.
Andrzej Kwasiborski, one of the biggest specialists and collectors of Art Brut in Poland, was fascinated by Irena Bilkowska’s obsessive work. The works found their way into his collection and from there, examples of Bilkowska’s work first appeared in two exhibitions of Art Brut from the collections of the Moravian collector Pavel Konečný from Olomouc and the Polish collector Andrzej Kwasiborski from Płock (K2 – Dom Darmstadt, Płock, October 2021 and Art brut Brno – Galerie Česká spořitelna Gallery in Brno, May – July 2022). Andrzej Kwasiborski’s wish to hold a solo exhibition of Irena Bilkowska was fulfilled at the end of 2023, at Dom Darmstadt in Płock, where Kwasiborski has been presenting works by selected art brut artists from his collection for ten years already. The exhibition curated by Andrzej Kwasiborski and Radosław Łabarzewski, entitled Pokaz mody Ireny Bilkowskiej (Irena Bilkowska’s Fashion Show), has become an attractive project also thanks to the costume models by Dorota Długosz inspired by Bilkowska’s drawings.
Dorota Długosz
Dorota Długosz, visual artist was born on 12 October 1974 in Płock, attended the University of Fine Arts in Płock and got her major in photography and exhibition design. She completed an internship at the Szaniawski Theatre in Płock (masks, costumes, set design) and studied at the photography school (Centre Iris) in Paris. A few years ago, she left her hometown for Boulogne-Billacourt near Paris, where she lives with her partner and two artistically gifted daughters on a boat on the Seine river.
She is a creative costume designer and an artistic photographer and has held several of her photography exhibitions in Paris. When she saw Irena Bilkowska’s drawings, she was very interested and suggested to the artist herself that she would create a series of costumes based on them. This is how twelve original art objects were created, which then became an integral part of the Płock exhibition Pokaz mody Ireny Bilkowskiej and enlivened the exhibition project. The models created are visually expressive artistic artefacts surprising with their imaginative overlap, creativity, colour and variety of materials used, as well as precision of workmanship. Dorota Długosz’s attractive models are a remarkable and action-oriented addition to the original drawing basis.
Dorota Długosz
Dorota Długosz, visual artist was born on 12 October 1974 in Płock, attended the University of Fine Arts in Płock and got her major in photography and exhibition design. She completed an internship at the Szaniawski Theatre in Płock (masks, costumes, set design) and studied at the photography school (Centre Iris) in Paris. A few years ago, she left her hometown for Boulogne-Billacourt near Paris, where she lives with her partner and two artistically gifted daughters on a boat on the Seine river.
She is a creative costume designer and an artistic photographer and has held several of her photography exhibitions in Paris. When she saw Irena Bilkowska’s drawings, she was very interested and suggested to the artist herself that she would create a series of costumes based on them. This is how twelve original art objects were created, which then became an integral part of the Płock exhibition Pokaz mody Ireny Bilkowskiej and enlivened the exhibition project. The models created are visually expressive artistic artefacts surprising with their imaginative overlap, creativity, colour and variety of materials used, as well as precision of workmanship. Dorota Długosz’s attractive models are a remarkable and action-oriented addition to the original drawing basis.
Art brut
Artistic work that does not follow any cultural norms, a work that knows no boundaries, varies in themes and may be labelled differently in various parts of the world. Its creators are independent, free in their work, it does not matter where they live, they are creators who do not deal with art consciously, but create, live with art. They usually work in silence and solitude, often in secret. They don’t create for the recipient or for any recognition, only for themselves. It is only collectors, explorers, who seek and find in the works of non-professionals expressions of authenticity and spontaneity and have the courage to leave the common path of understanding art, who most often make this work known.