Karolina Szwed
21 February - 23 March, 2025
This online exhibition introduces the works of Polish artist Karolina Szwed (b. 1997). She received her MA in Painting from the Academy of Fine Arts, Katowice and currently lives and works in Warsaw, Poland. Imbued with autobiographical references, Szwed's soft and mysterious paintings reconcile acts of tenderness with emotional tension.
The artist’s choice of depicting familiar settings and everyday observations lies in the willingness to forge an emotional connection between her works and their audience through laying herself bare. Rather than focussing on formal coherence, Szwed creates impressions that are emotionally charged and possess a magnetic quality.
Recurrent elements inhabit hazy, delicate compositions: ribbons, little insects, typography borrowed from popular brand names, and motifs taken from public transport weave a narrative thread amongst her paintings. The sun, a looming, ubiquitous presence in Szwed’s oeuvre, suggests an underlying threat, an oppressive, sinister force that disrupts the aura of her work. The visual outcome paints a gloomy atmosphere, where the stark separation between night and day is blurred and exists in an in-between state.
Inspired by an eclectic mix of mysterious psychological thrillers, computer games, Satoshi Kon’s anime and small found or received objects that have no function other than sentimental, her works offer a reflection on human connection and solidarity, the meaning of truth against ambiguity, the dramatisation of life and the shifting dynamics between perceived roles of ‘victims’ and ‘agent’.
Karolina Szwed
Riding with my baby on the sensory train, 2024
Oil on canvas
100 x 110 cm | 43 1/4 x 43 1/4 in
'I painted this work after taking the morning after pill. I was about to title it something like 'Her name was Ella and she was the One'. The pill is named EllaOne and I was jokingly choosing names for the baby the day before. A box on the right bottom corner of the canvas contains something warm and bright, like a solution or an emergency hammer, like the one that is often mounted on public transport.'
- Karolina Szwed
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Recently, for the first time in my life I felt like I could allow another person to touch me in a way that was not intrusive. The act of putting a hand into someone else's pocket is not natural to me at all, similar to holding hands or any other gestures associated with closeness and touch. I’ve learned how an alien hand can put its weight on me, how uncomfortable that feeling can be.
- Karolina Szwed
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Karolina Szwed
Helping Hand, 2025
Oil on canvas
60 x 70 cm | 23 5/8 x 27 1/2 in
On a cold day, two figures wearing similar coats walk together toward the bus stop. At first glance, the scene appears sweet—evoking a sense of intimacy and the natural desire to seek warmth and comfort. Yet, upon closer inspection, a more sinister narrative might emerge. What if this moment tells a different story—one of theft or an invasion of privacy? A hand slipping into someone’s pocket, possibly taking their personal belongings, could symbolize a violation of that thin boundary of solitude.
Helping Hand presents an enigma: the reason for the touching hands remains unclear. Are they holding onto each other, or is one slipping away? This ambiguity reflects the artist’s fascination with the mystery hidden in seemingly ordinary moments. The work also alludes to Szwed’s personal reluctance to let her guard down and allow others to care for her—both physically and emotionally.
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Karolina Szwed
Merry go round jailhouse, 2025
Oil on canvas
50 x 70 cm | 19 3/4 x 27 1/2 in
The title of this work references a track by the Japanese pop group Serani Poji, part of the “Shibuya-Kei”, a music genre that flourished in Japan in the mid-to late 1990s. Szwed found solace and comfort in these melodies, as she was going through a difficult personal time. Listening to this genre became a sort of coping mechanism, where she could find emotional shelter and live a more childish-like, carefree temporary existence, somewhat detached from the reality that surrounded her. The first encounter with this music genre happened fortuitously as the artist was playing a popular puzzle-action video game called Katamari Damacy, “sitting in her old studio, drinking cheap wine, and figuring out what she wanted in general’, as she describes.
The floating, black letters dispersed on the canvas spell “Cono Sur”, referencing an affordable wine brand popular in Poland. Distant red letters form the word “G r i p”, the shortened name for Gripex, a common painkiller.
In this work, the artist alludes to a playground, or an amusement park, visually conveying the sensation of spinning in a circle, as if the viewer was riding a carousel, much like the title suggests. A distinctive quality in Szwed’s practice is how contrasting feelings co-exist in her works, and Merry-go-round jailhouse exemplifies this. The whimsical nature of the carousel is here paired with a sinister, heavier undertone, as if the fun was inevitably destined to end. Szwed sees this aesthetics as a lens - an interpretative tool through which life events can be filtered, distorted and dramatised.
'I wanted to create an illusion of the train standing still in time, yet having some movement and fluidity to it, making it seem both bright and unsafe
I placed the Cathedral on the right side of the painting, behind the window, as a sort of landscape, maybe pointing out that this could be the destination for journey the painting captures.' - Karolina Szwed
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Karolina Szwed
Something nice, 2025
Oil on canvas
60 x 70 cm | 23 5/8 x 27 1/2 in
Looking through the window, we see a solitary figure on the left and a dog on the right—both appearing as if they could dissolve into thin air at any moment. The viewer might take the position of an observer, gazing through the window frame, though no apparent glass separates them from the scene outside. This subtle breaking of the fourth wall challenges the idea of detachment.
A single red ball rolls down the sill. If picked up and thrown, it could serve as an invitation—an opening for play, a simple gesture of connection. This moment raises deeper questions: how can a seemingly minor choice ripple through the world around us? Does deciding to engage alter the course of events? And should one intervene at all, even when they have the means to do so? These considerations touch upon self-agency and the contrast between merely watching life unfold and actively participating in it.
The title, Something Nice, suggests an act of kindness—not just towards others but also towards oneself. It speaks to the courage required to step beyond the role of an outsider and engage with the world, reframing participation as a personal gift. While the language implies a grand narrative, perhaps even overestimating the weight of such a small decision, it ultimately highlights the significance of choosing connection over distance.
Beneath the surface, hidden in the texture of the paint, are a few presents and two pairs of scissors—one intact and functional, the other bent and broken. These details reveal themselves when viewed from an angle, catching the light and adding a tactile layer to the painting’s quiet introspection.
Photo: Aleksandra Ładocha from ŁAD STUDIO
Karolina Szwed (b.1997) is a Polish artist currently living and working in Warsaw, Poland. Szwed studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice, graduating in 2022. Recent exhibitions include: ‘Soft Trigger’, WHOISPOLA, Warsaw (2025); ‘Hi, Stranger’, WHOISPOLA, Warsaw (2024); ‘Neurotypie’, Rotacyjny Dom Kultury Jazdów, Warsaw (2024); ‘Karolina Szwed’, Crash Club, Warsaw (2024); ‘GLOW DOWN’, Windowlicker, Warsaw (2024); ‘Moja droga witrynko..., the ING Polish Art Foundation with Turnus’, Podgląd gallery, Warsaw (2024); NADA Villa Warsaw fair, Alyssa Davis Gallery NY, Warsaw (2024); ‘MNFST’, Metropolitan, Warsaw (2024); ‘Lepkie Uściski Dłoni’, Art Walk, Warsaw (2024); ‘Post Truth (...)’, Kunstleben Kreuzberg, Berlin (2023); ‘GRAND OPENING’, Szałfynster, Katowice (2023); ‘MASA KRYTYCZNA’, Oblatów 4, Katowice, (2023); ‘Uwierz w ducha’, Windowlicker, Warsaw, (2023); ‘Tip of my Tongue’, Pola Magnetyczne, Warsaw (2023); ‘Post Truth: Countering Disinformation Narratives’, Poznan, (2023); ‘LARGO’, Wolne Pokoje, Dąbrowa (2023); ‘Drzwi Zamknięte’, Pralnia | LABA, Tarnowskie Góry (2023); ‘Migracje’, BWA Katowice (2022).
In 2024, she was selected to take part in ROZBIEG 2.0, a networking programme for young promising artists, between Katowice, Tarnów, and Kraków (PL).
