Ant Łakomsk (b. 2001, Toruń) is a painter and visual artist who occasionally works with sculpture and installations. Her work touches on hazy recollections, fleeting environments, echoes of earlier art, and emanates ephemeral feelings. Ambiguity is at the forefront of Łakomsk’s paintings – she leaves much for the viewers to interpret for themselves. Pale figures and subdued, shadowy settings are recurring features across her compositions. Earthy, muted colors emerge as she mixes tones over and over again, in a sort of meditative repetition.
Influences from art history are often visible in Łakomsk’s work, combined with her distinctive style. She applies a range of formats: wide and short, tall and thin, smaller and larger – reminiscent of Dr Wojciech Bąkowski’s work, in whose studio she studied. In exhibitions, the artist often makes use of “empty” space around her paintings, creating a minimalistic aura that enhances the experience of the work itself. Her practice has already been recognized nationally and internationally through numerous awards and exhibitions.
Everything is Ephemeral
For the MFA Show at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Łakomsk unveiled Everything is Embarrassing (2025). The paintings, in tall, narrow formats, depict women in vague settings. Two sculptures accompany them – subtle, textured figures. One wears a green scarf and leans forward with tense shoulders, as if braving cold winds and gazing intently at the wall in front of it. The other stands still, slouching ever so slightly. With few descriptions of the project’s concept available, the works leave ample room for interpretation. Although the women in the paintings lack distinct facial features, one might speculate that they form a series of self-portraits. Their still, solitary surroundings reflect Łakomsk’s typical color palette, consisting of desaturated, organic tones.
A sense of uniformity runs through the artist’s practice. While some paintings are part of specific projects, they exist in a clear harmony with the rest of Łakomsk’s works. Poking Something Dead (2026) has an ethereal, glowing quality: two women are in the backdrop of a forest, with orbs of light dangling above them. One kneels beside the other, who stands with an umbrella in her outstretched hand. Both are depicted in relaxed poses, echoing the intimate yet everyday situations present in many of the artist’s works. Opening (2025) features a girl beside a tree, accompanied by two geese and a barely legible word above – all overlapping in a faintly translucent way. As with other works, the distinctive tones and impalpable ambiance remain central, yet a sense of peacefulness underlies both pieces.
Airhead (2025), while bearing a different color palette of faint reds and yellows, still keeps the telltale muted palette of other works. However, unlike many other paintings, it doesn’t quite depict an everyday situation. A woman stands in front of a colorfully-leaved tree, a faded monkey sitting on her shoulders, its hands laid over her head. Regardless, the painting exudes a sense of calmness or acceptance. Even the woman’s expression is imperturbable and fixed, although indistinct. The piece aligns with Łakomsk’s full body of work, leaving much to be interpreted.
Secrecy, or the Lack Thereof
The influence of the late French artist Marc Camille Chaimowicz is palpable in Camille, Ant Łakomsk’s 2025 exhibition in Warsaw’s Turnus gallery. Chaimowicz was known for transforming gallery spaces into more intimate, lived-in environments, intentionally blurring the boundary between fine art and design. Łakomsk, together with Zuzanna Kozłowska – the exhibition designer, the artist’s friend and long-time collaborator – pays homage to this approach by including a single chair and coat hanger in the space.
The surrounding paintings vary in format, from narrow compositions, as seen in Everything is Embarrassing, to wider ones. While Łakomsk experimented with these formats, Kozłowska designed frames to match them. Depicting women in solitude, engaged in quotidian activities like reading, the works feel voyeuristic. This very air of voyeurism, mystery, and immateriality introduces subtle sexual undertones while maintaining a sense of distance. When asked about references to Chaimowicz in an interview with Mint magazine, Łakomsk stated, “He said he used patterns and objects because they didn’t hide their function, and painting is exactly like that – creative, shrouded in mystery, often trying to conceal something. The theme of secrecy, or the lack thereof, was important in this exhibition.”
The exhibition opened as part of Warsaw Gallery Weekend and was awarded by the ING Polish Art Foundation.
Ant Łakomsk was raised in Kielce and is currently based in Warsaw, and works with Stereo Gallery. She is a graduate of the Faculty of Media Art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Despite majoring in Media Art, the artist mainly studied under painters. Łakomsk has received several prestigious awards, such as the Krupa Art Foundation Young Art Prize (2024), the ING Polish Art Foundation Prize (2025), and the renowned Paszport Polityki Award (2025). She has had solo exhibitions in the Turnus Gallery in Warsaw, the Starak Family Foundation in Warsaw, the Chess Club in Hamburg, and has an upcoming exhibition at Brunette Coleman in London. She has also been featured in various group exhibitions: in Poland, France, Sweden, Italy, Switzerland, and the United States of America, among others.
