Władysław Wałęga: I Won’t Give up, I’ll Survive

An exhibitions the works of the Krakow painter Władysław Wałęga, one of the most interesting contemporary artists of art brut. It tries to humbly dive into the world of a man who dispelled anxieties, addictions, depression, and demons of the mind through creativity.

Władysław Wałęga was born in 1940; he lives in Kraków and is one of the most interesting non-professional artists working today. He did not know his father, who died in Auschwitz, and his mother was taken away by the Gestapo when he was 3 years old. He grew up in orphanages and institutions. For many years he struggled with alcoholism. He found himself in prison several times. There he took up the idea of painting. Treated in a psychiatric hospital in Kraków-Kobierzyn, spotted by a psychiatrist, Dr Andrzej Kowal, he underwent therapy through art, which, as he says, saved his life.

His works reflect the experiences of a man who lived through a dramatic childhood, experienced imprisonment, addictions, struggles with depression, illness. Life's traumas competed with dreams of unfettered freedom, the mistakes of youth with fragile sensitivity, loneliness with the desire for love. He sought salvation in art. Painting became therapy and liberation: an escape from tormenting memories, demons of imagination, a cure to relieve tension and loneliness. The character and art of Władysław Wałęga are intriguing. The paintings do not allow for indifference - they delight and surprise, attract and repel, intrigue and appall. What is actually visible in his paintings? And can art save a shattered life?

The exhibition grew out of conversations with Władysław Wałęga and research by the curators. It features 44 works by the painter from public and private collections, including some that have never been exhibited before. It is complemented by photographs taken during sessions with the artist.

exhibition design: Anna Zabdyrska
photography: Adam Mikołajczyk, Marcin Wąsik