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Anna Gulak

Anna Gulak Art Gallery

“ (...) lyrical abstraction and realistic portraiture coexist in Gulak’s productions. Acknowledging the trends of contemporary artistic culture, she transforms them via the reinterpretation of forms, typologies and classical iconography. Her art is designed to combine the complex necessities of the contemporary with a language which aims to encourage a revival of an ideal of beauty in its own semantic component. An ideal which is not an end in itself, but is inspired by the primordial idea of “beauty”, arisen from the act which first formed this concept by giving it substance, the act of Creation, which every artist implicitly tries to recreate in a highly mimetic way (...). These two different components of Gulak’s art make of her an absolutely original voice in the panorama of contemporary art ”.



Maria Carolina Campone
Lecturer on the history of contemporary languages of art, Naples

Anna Gulak is a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. In addition to studies at its faculties of sculpture and painting, she also studied at the renowned Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan and at the Warsaw Film School. Moreover she completed Postgraduate Studies at the Faculty of Management at Warsaw University with the title of Culture Manager. She is fluent in several languages.

She has already received numerous awards. As one of few global artists, she was awarded the prestigious Vatican Pontifical Academies Award 2012 ("Premio delle Pontificie Accademie") for which she was nominated by the Pontifical Academy of Fine Arts and Letters of the Virtuosi al Pantheon in Rome, which is composed of outstanding Italian university professors and global personalities from the world of culture and science. She was selected from among 50 artists and architects throughout the world and was granted the award by Pope Benedict XVI for her outstanding achievements in art and for the promotion of aesthetics and humanistic values through her creativity.

Anna Gulak even received prestigious commissions during her studies. In 2003 she designed and produced a papal medal commissioned by the Holy See for the occasion of the 100th pilgrimage of Pope John Paul II in the 25th anniversary year of his pontificate. In 2010, the Vatican again commissioned her to create a medal for Pope Benedict XVI. Among the places her sculptures can be found are the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican and the Palace of the Vicariate in Rome. In 2013, as a representative of artists throughout the world, she received an Apostolic Exhortation from Pope Francis.

Over the years she has had solo exhibitions of paintings (realistic and abstract), sculpture and graphics, which have been held mainly abroad: Vatican, Italy (Rome, Verona, Siena, Veneto) but also in the Polish parliament. She has also taken part in collective exhibitions in Poland (including the gallery of the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, the Royal Castle in Warsaw and the Zacheta National Gallery of Art), as well as in the US (Chicago) and Canada (Toronto and Montreal). Her works are found in museum collections in Poland and abroad, including the Vatican Museums, the Polish National Museum in Warsaw, the Museum of Medallic Art in Wroclaw, the Museum of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, the collection of the Pontifical Council for Culture at the Vatican, the collection of the Pontifical Academy of Fine Arts and Letters of the Virtuosi al Pantheon in Rome, the collection of the Polish Mint in Warsaw as well as in private collections in Poland, Germany, France, Great Britain, the United States, Canada, Italy, the United Arab Emirates and India.

Gulak has four main areas of activity: painting, sculpture, graphics, plus design. With such great versatility, one can clearly notice a main feature of the artist: the great variety of interests combined with experimentation with the complex of cultural matrices, where the recovery of classical tradition materializes itself in forms extremely "contemporary" in a recognized meaning within the artistic field.

Selected exhibitions, awards and achievements:

  • 2018 Exhibition “Imprimatur”; Altamura, Italy;
  • 2017 Exhibition "Thy neighbour…”; Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw;
  • 2017 Solo Exhibition "Faces of John Paul II”, a Vatican exhibition re-displayed at the Parliament of Poland, Warsaw; Poland;
  • 2016 Exhibition "Giovanni Donne Artiste a confronto”; Teatro dei Dioscuri al Quirinale, Rome, Italy;
  • 2015 - 2016 Solo Exhibition of sculpture and graphics; Aeroporto Leonardo da Vinci - Fiumicino, Rome, Italy;
  • 2015 Solo Exhibition "Impressioni II di Anna Gulak” (abstract oil paintings); Westin Excelsior, Rome, Italy;
  • 2014 - 2015 Solo Exhibition of sculpture and graphics; Bassano del Grappa, Italy;
  • 2014 Solo Exhibition of sculpture and graphics; Basilica Cateriniana, Sienna, Italy;
  • 2014 Unveiling ceremony of a monumental bust of John Paul II at the Palace of the Vicariate, Rome, Italy;
  • 2014  Public Exhibition "I Volti di San Giovanni Paolo II e San Giovanni XXIII" on the streets and squares of historic Rome, Italy;
  • 2014 Solo Exhibition of sculpture and graphics; Vatican, Italy;
  • 2013 Solo Exhibition of sculpture and graphics; Verona, Italy;
  • 2013 Solo Exhibition of sculpture and graphics; Isola della Scala, Italy;
  • 2013 Solo Exhibition “Meditazioni e Testimonianza” (painting, sculpture); Museo San Fermo, Verona, Italy;
  • 2012 Winner of the Pontifical Academy Award 2012 ("Premio delle Pontificie Accademie”); nominated by the Pontifical Academy of Fine Arts and Letters of the Virtuosi al Pantheon in Rome for achievements in art and the promotion of beauty and humanist values in her creativity.
  • 2012 Solo Exhibition "Impressioni di Anna Gulak” (abstract oil paintings); Westin Excelsior, Rome, Italy;
  • 2011 Solo Exhibition of sculpture and drawing; Paul VI Audience Hall, Vatican;
  • 2011 Solo Exhibition of sculpture and graphics, Pontificio Istituto, Rome, Italy;
  • 2010 Design and production of a papal medal commissioned by the Vatican for Benedict XVI;
  • 2009 Awarded with the Primate of Poland Order "Populoque Servitium Praestanti Ecclesiae";
  • 2009 Exhibition "The Best Diplomas 2009”, Gdańsk, Poland;
  • 2009 Diploma Exhibition (painting, sculpture, drawing), Czapski Palace, Warsaw, Poland;
  • 2008 Siemens Competition Finalist’s Expo (painting, drawing), Warsaw, Poland;
  • 2008 Exhibition "Nude” Marquartd Gallery, Lódź, Poland;
  • 2004 Co-creator of the "Golden Thoughts of Great People, Talent and Heart, Creators of the Image of Poland 2004” Commemorative Book;
  • 2004  Exposure of the Pontifical Medal at numismatic art exhibitions: Historical Museum of the City of Warsaw (Poland), Chicago (USA), as well as in Toronto and Montreal (Canada).
  • 2004 Design and production of a series of graphic designs commissioned by the Polish State Mint for an exclusive world collection of 25 medals in silver and gold commemorating the most important events of the pontificate of John Paul II;
  • 2003 - 2004  Exhibition of the Papal Medal at the initiative of the National Museum at the Polish Presidential Palace Gallery, Warsaw, Poland;
  • 2003 Exhibition "Studio 59”, Action Gallery”, Warsaw, Poland;
  • 2003 Prize awarded for the result of studies by the Senate of the Fine Arts Academy at the Warsaw Festival of Art Academies;
  • 2003 Scholarship at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan, Italy;
  • 2002 - 2003 Design and execution of a papal medal commissioned by the Holy See (by the first Polish woman in the history of the Vatican) in the 25th anniversary year of the pontificate of John Paul and on the occasion of the 100th papal pilgrimage. This medal, produced by the Vatican, was personally presented by the Holy Father to various authorities and distinguished individuals.