Piotr Uklanski was born in 1968 in Warsaw, Poland and now lives and works between Paris and New York. He studied painting in the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and photography at the Cooper Union School for Advancement of Science and Art, in New York.
Uklanski has constructed a diverse body of work that is steeped in cultural references and encompasses many types of media including sculpture, photography, collage, performance, and film. His work has been internationally exhibited in various contexts including the Museum of Modern Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, The 50th International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia 2003, the 26th Sao Paolo Biennale 2004 and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
Not shy of controversy Uklanski's often tackles difficult subjects and his photographic series Untitled (The Nazis)caused protests when exhibited in The Photographers Gallery in London, in 1998. Conversely his billboard Untitled (John Pope II) was spontaneously turned into a memorial shrine after the Pope's death in 2005.
Uklanski debuted his first feature-length film entitled Summer Love: The First Polish Western at the 2006 Venice Film Festival; it was nominated for the Gucci Group Award in 2007.

Glossary

  • Collage

    The two-dimensional form of assemblage made by affixing paper, card, photographs, fabric and other objects to a flat surface. It is often combined with painting and drawing techniques. This technique was first introduced by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque in 1912 during their phase of synthetic cubism.

  • Film

    A transparent, flexible plastic material, usually of cellulose acetate or polyester, on which light-sensitive emulsion is coated, or on which an image can be formed by various transfer processes.

  • Painting

    Work of art made with paint on a surface. Often the surface, also called a support, is a tightly stretched piece of canvas, paper or a wooden panel. Painting involves a wide range of techniques and materials, along with the artist's intellectual concerns effecting the content of a work.

  • Sculpture

    A three-dimensional work of art. Such works may be carved, modelled, constructed, or cast. Sculptures can also be described as assemblage, in the round, relief, and made in a huge variety of media. Contemporary practice also includes live elements, as in Gilbert & George 'Living Sculpture' as well as broadcast work, radio or sound sculpture.

Portfolio