Jacek Rykała graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, the Department of Graphic Arts, in 1976.
He is a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice where he heads the Studio of Fine Art Painting. www.jacekrykala.com

Rykała has had about 60 individual exhibitions. More important among them include:

1977     Katowice Gallery ZPAP – PSP, Katowice

1981     Gallery of Contemporary Art BWA, Katowice

1984     O. N. Gallery, Poznań

1987     BWA KrakĂłw ; BWA Katowice ; BWA Poznań

1988     Zapiecek Gallery, Warsaw ; 37 Million Gallery TVP, Warsaw

1989     Gallery at the Academy of Fine Arts, KrakĂłw

1990     Dijkstra Gallery, Amsterdam

1991     Espace-Temps Gallery, Paris

1992     F-15 Gallery, Moss, Norway – A Retrospective

1993     BWA Częstochowa ; BWA Zielona GĂłra ; Mada Gallery, Karlsruhe

1994     Gallery A, Stuttgart ; Artemis Gallery, KrakĂłw

1995     Insinuations of the Sielec District, 1985-1995, BWA Katowice

1996     Insinuations of the Sielec District, 1985-1995, National Art Gallery, ŁódĹş

             Insinuations of the Sielec District, 1985-1995, The Polish Institute, Vienna

             Insinuations of the Sielec District, 1985-1995, Zapiecek Gallery, Warsaw

             Insinuations of the Sielec District, 1985-1995, Regional Museum, Toruń

             Pokaz Gallery, Warsaw

1997      Miskolci Gallery, Miskolc, Hungary

             Ecole des Beaux – Arts, Saint Etienne, France

1998      Shining – Studio Art Centre, Warsaw

             Lovers from Kaliska Street – Zapiecek Gallery, Warsaw

1999      Radio Katowice Gallery

             Boys from Będzin ­â€“ Czas Gallery, Będzin

             Obecna Gallery – City Centre for Culture, Jaworzno

2000      Shining ­â€“ The Polish Institute, Rome

2001      Close the Door, Please – Zapiecek Gallery, Warsaw

   Jacek Rykała, ... Sunday Afternoons Brimming with the Silence of Deserted Streets and Backyards...,   Sosnowiec Museum

2002      Jacek Rykała, ... Sunday Afternoons Brimming with the Silence of Deserted Streets and Backyards...,

 The    National Museum, KrakĂłw, Main Building

2003      Jacek Rykała, Bilder, Objekte, Collagen, Stadmuseum, DĂźsseldorf, Germany

2004      Jacek Rykała, Arrested Time – Painting and Graphic Arts, TW007 Art Gallery, New York, USA

             Jacek Rykała, Stanisław Wyspiański Theatre of Silesia, Grand Stage Foyer

             Mist – Jewish Inspirations, KNST Gallery, Marchołt, Katowice

2005      Jacek Rykała, The Polish Institute, Bratislava, Slovak Republic

             Trivial Things, Trifling Events, Zapiecek Gallery, Warsaw

2006     Jacek Rykała, Cose poco importanti arrenimente insignificanti, Galleria d’arte Polacca, Bologne, Italy

2008     Paradise lost? Selected Works, 1977- 2007, Gallery of Contemporary Art,  BWA, Katowice

            Jacek Rykała, Painting, Hortar Gallery, TarnĂłw accompanied by a presentation of Jacek Rykała’s art in

Ludwik Solski Theatre in TarnĂłw

           Gates of Będzin, Museum of the Zagłębie District, Będzin

2009     Tableau… mowa wygnana” (together with  A. Tobise and  I. Walczak), Kameralna Słupsk Gallery, Baltic Modern Art Gallery.

2010     Chily Mornings, Krypta u PijarĂłw Gallery, KrakĂłw.

             Yellow Light of Empty Places,Sosnowieckie Centrum Sztuki Zamek Sielecki

2011      Yellow Light of Empty Places, BWA Kielce

2013      Tales from the Kitchen, Silesia Theatre Katowice

 

From 1976 to 2013 Rykała participated in more than 300 collective exhibitions all over the world, among them:

 

1978 and 1988 1st and 4th International Triennale of Drawing, Wrocław

1981     Fritiska Roster Fran Polen – Konstmuseet, Ystad

1978, 1980, 1986, 1988 9th, 10th, 13th and 14th Festival of Contemporary Polish Painting, Szczecin

1981     Poland : Landscape, People, Ideas, Sopot

1980     Drawing and Commentary, Regional Museum, Radom

1981     Drawing and Description, Regional Museum, Radom

1983     2-eme Convergence Jeune Expression – Grand Palais, Paris

1984     Polonya cagas resim seqesi, Ankara, Istanbul

1985     Internationale Kunstbiennale, Seetal, Switzerland

1989     1st Biennale of Young People’s Art Way and Truth, Saint Cross Church, Wrocław,

1986     8 MiedunĂĄrodne BienĂĄle Malby, Kosice (CSRS)

1988     1st Biennale of Small Format Painting, Toruń

1988     Arsenal ’88, National Exhibition of Young People’s Art, Warsaw

1988     Festival of Art, Moscow

1989     „Den abne døor“ Charlottenberg, Kopenhagen

1989     Drawing, Centre For Art, Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw

1989     Red and White, Warsaw ; Amsterdam

1990     Enclave – Interart International Fairs of Art, Poznań

1992     10 Years Later,Regional Museum, Radom

2001     Europalia, Brussels

2004     Directions in Art, TWOO7 Art Gallery, New York

2004     Triennale of Polish Graphic Arts, Katowice 2004, Miskolc, Hungary, 2005

2004     International Triennale of Graphic Arts, KrakĂłw, Oldenburg 2005

2006     DąbrĂłwka Street 9 – On Painting in the Academy of Fine Arts, Katowice, the museum of Silesia, Katowice

2007     Re(con)naissance of Painting, Biennale of Contemporary Art, GCK Katowice

2008     Polish Art After 1945. Between the Idea of Contemporary Art and Reality and Memory, Jacek Malczewski  Museum of Contemporary Art, Radom

            Gardens, Pomeranian Dukes’ Castle, Szczecin

2009     Gardens, El Gallery, Elbląg

            Tableau... A Banished Speech, Kameralna Gallery, Słupsk

            Icons in the Art of the Twentieth Century, Krypta Gallery at the Piarists’, KrakĂłw

2011     Recykling the Iron Curtain,Kuhlhaus,Berlin        

 

From 1989 to 1996 Rykała’s paintings were presented at various Art Fairs, among them :

 

1989-96       Art Cologne

1990-96       Art Frankfurt

1991, 1994   Art Chicago

1991            Art Los Angeles

1992            Art Tokyo

                   Art Hamburg 90

                   Art Nice 90

2005            Art London

2007            Arte Fierra, Bologne

 

 

The following museums have Jacek Rykała’s works in their collections :

 

The National Museum, Kraków, Warsaw, Poznań, Szczecin

The Museum of Contemporary Art, Łódź

The Museum of Silesia, Katowice

The Museum of the Jagiellonian University, KrakĂłw

The Regional Museums in Radom and Bydgoszcz

The Museum of the Lubusz Region, Zielona GĂłra

City Museums of Katowice, Sosnowiec, Jaworzno, ChorzĂłw

Studio Art Centre, Warsaw

The Castle of the Górkowie House in Szamotuły – a gallery of paintings on wood board

Volker Feierabendt’s collection inetended for the Sprengel Museum in Hannover

The Stadtmuseum DĂźsseldorf                                                 

Private collections in dozens of countries around the world

 

Jacek Rykała received innumerable awards and distinctions, among them :

 

1980                 1st Prize in the Z. R. Pomorski National Painting Competition, Katowice

1980, 1988        Awards at the10th and 15th Festival of Polish Painting, Szczecin

1981                 An award at the exhibition Poland – Landscape, People, Ideas, Sopot

1980, 1986        Awards in the J. Spychalski Painting Competition, Poznań,

1978, 1980        Medals at the National Exhibitions of Painting A Bielsko-Biała Autumn, Bielsko-Biała,

1985                 A distinction at Internationale Kunstbiennale „Seetal”, Switzerland

1989                 An award at the 1st Biennale of Young People’s Art Way and Truth, Saint Cross Church, Wrocław

1989                 Arsenal ’88 Warszawa, a distinction

1992                 Sosnowiec City Award for the work in the field of art for the year 1992

 

Theatre:

4 June 2005: A premiere of Jacek Rykała’s theatre performance based on his own play A House to Demolish. The play was directed by Rykała and performed on the stage in Malania at the Stanisław Wyspiański Theatre of Silesia in Katowice

October 2005: Performance of the play A House to Demolish at the Festival of Polish Premieres in Bydgoszcz

December 2005: Performance of the play A House to Demolish at the National Museum in Kraków, Main Building. The play was accompanied by a presentation of Jacek Rykała’s paintings.

7 February 2005: A premiere of Jacek Rykała’s play Creamery directed by Rykała and performed on the stage in Malarnia at the Stanisław Wyspiański Theatre of Silesia in Katowice.

2 February 2012 ; A premiere of Jacek Rykala’s play Chily Mornings directed by Rykala and performed on the stage at the Zaglebia Theatre in Sosnowiec.

 

Television films about Jacek Rykała :

• The 38 Million Gallery, F. Kuduk, TVP Warsaw, 1988

• Defence, A. Geber, TVP KrakĂłw, 1989

• Jacek Rykała’s Portraits, J. Kołodziejczyk, Katowice, 1992

• Jacek Rykała, B. Bartkiewicz, TVP Katowice, 1993

• Rykała at the Gate, J. Patyna, TVP Katowice, 1995

• Insinuations of the Sielec District, M. Durczok, TVP Katowice, 1995

• Somebody, Canal +, 1996

• S. Piskor’s programme Pleiad devoted entirely to Jacek Rykała, TVP Katowice, 2005

 

GLOSSARY OF ABBREVIATIONS :

ZPAP (Związek Polskich ArtystĂłw PlastykĂłw) – Polish Association for Artists

PSP (Pracownia Sztuk Plastycznych) – Fine Arts Studio

BWA (Biuro Wystaw Artystycznych) – Art Exhibitions Bureau

TVP (Telewizja Polska) – Polish Television