Apolonia’s Twelve Husbands is the latest series of paintings by Pola Dwurnik, as well as her first individual exhibition in Warsaw since 2012. The artist refers to her earlier series entitled Apolonia’s Garden, in which she portrayed her ex-boyfriends personified as animals. This time, referring to the history of painting, she has created twelve male portraits as allegories of the twelve months. Each of the artist’s “imaginary husbands” is not merely a representation of a different season, but also of a distinct stage in a woman’s life as well as a concept of an ideal partner. Dwurnik combines her own experiences with the expectations and fantasies of other women, resulting in twelve metaphors of contemporary society. And while she approaches the subject matter with the sense of humour typical of her entire oeuvre, it doesn’t deprive the series of its significant – or occasionally even dire– nature.
Curator: Paulina Olszewska