Info

Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice
Faculty of Art
Chair of Painting
Main diploma – Painting Studio V
Supervisor: Professor Andrzej Tobis
Additional diploma – Interpretation of Literature Studio
Supervisor: Professor Grzegorz Hańderek and Małgorzata Szandała, PhD

Cakes accompany us throughout our lives, from the moment of birth until death. The taste of the last ones – the funeral ones, created in our honor – we will not know… but maybe that is a good thing. Cakeology is an analysis of socio-cultural, gastronomic, and political phenomena based on confectionery products.

Excerpt from Cakeology:
The probability of culinary failure combined with the knowledge that what we have prepared is unpalatable, while praised by politeness, makes us nauseous. The risk is high, because we cannot cut the cake beforehand to convince ourselves of its taste, and the decision on presentation is made after evaluating the outer shell. After all the elements have been assembled, modifications are possible only on the visual level, so it is better not to economize and add a few green leaves, sprinkle the deficiencies with colored sprinkles, and fill any resulting cavities with whipped cream. If the leaves, colored sprinkles, and whipped cream don’t do the job, you’re left with making sweet balls of dough, accepting defeat, and calling it a bagel. This can be compared to the struggle with the painting technique of watercolor, which after a long, unsuccessful struggle turns into gouache. The artist, in the case of both the fairy tale and the gouache, can pretend that it was meant to be.

Karolina Konopka works in the fields of painting, video, and installation. She is interested in confectionery and delicatessen art, the issue of mass culture, consumerism, discarded food as well as the food on a plate, rites, traditions, and rituals rooted in Polish culture. She was awarded a scholarship by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage. Author of individual exhibitions presented, among others, in the BWA Gallery of Contemporary Art and Minus1.artspace in Katowice or Dobro Gallery in Olsztyn. Participant of group exhibitions and festivals, among others: Strabag Artaward International, Strabag Kunstforum, Triennale Młodych in Orońsko, BWA Zielona Góra, BWA Gallery of Contemporary Art in Katowice, Biennale of Painting Bielska Jesień, CSW Kronika in Bytom or Brick City Gallery in Springfield, USA.