On view September 15 – September 27, 2014
EBK Gallery [small works].
218 Pearl St.
Hartford, CT
“For me, the art of Adam Niklewicz is poetic disorientation.
I know what I am looking at. It makes sense. I don’t know why. But I don’t want to know why.
There are many ideas that are exquisite and only some become art.” EBK
Born in Poland; lives and works in North Haven, CT, USA
Adam Niklewicz earned his BFA in graphic communications from Washington University in St. Louis and his MFA in sculpture from State University of New York at Purchase. His work has been featured and discussed in ARTnews, Art New England, The New York Times, Sculpture Magazine, Modern Painters Magazine, The Huffington Post, and the Nation, among others. In Poland, he has been featured in Artpunkt, Exit, Format and Obieg magazines. He has shown at such venues as Real Art Ways, The New Britain Museum of American Art, The Stamford Museum, Grounds for Sculpture, Black & White Gallery, FiveMyles, Slag Gallery, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Galerie fur Landschaftskunst (Hamburg, Germany), Gallery of Contemporary Art (Opole, Poland), Zacheta (Warsaw, Poland) and Arte Laguna Prize 2014 (the Arsenale, Venice, Italy).
In 2012, Niklewicz completed a major public art project in Hartford, Connecticut. The two-pronged work (a conceptual mural titled The Charter Oak and a video projection upon a façade of an office building, titled Walking Around a Tree), was commissioned by the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Real Art Ways and the city of Hartford.
Niklewicz’s work thrives on surprise and plays with de-contextualization. The objects of his attention are quite ordinary. These are tables, chairs, plates and a host of other items that have a role to play in the network of daily experiences that define the practical world. Niklewicz stands back and assumes a detached view of the objects attempting to discover new and secret aspects of reality by making obvious things odd and finding playful qualities along with clear and palpable symbolism. Such contemplative detachment translates into absurd situations suspended of practicality but with healthy dose of irony and humor – all communicated through mediums ranging from sculpture, video, installation and conceptual photography.
– Tatyana Okshteyn, Funding Director, Black & White Gallery / Project Space
click on an image to enlarge or forward through
![EBK | Niklewicz [calle lunga]](https://ebkgallery.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/calle-lunga-1.jpg "EBK | Niklewicz [calle lunga]")
![EBK | Niklewicz [calle lunga]](https://ebkgallery.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/delusion-1.jpg "EBK | Niklewicz [calle lunga]")
![EBK | Niklewicz [disparate no more]](https://ebkgallery.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/disparate-no-more-1.jpg "EBK | Niklewicz [disparate no more]")
![EBK | Niklewicz [dancing-shoes]](https://ebkgallery.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/dancing-shoes-1.jpg "EBK | Niklewicz [dancing-shoes]")
![EBK | Niklewicz [sailor]](https://ebkgallery.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/sailor-1.jpg "EBK | Niklewicz [sailor]")
![EBK | Niklewicz [sometime last january]](https://ebkgallery.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/sometime-last-january-1.jpg "EBK | Niklewicz [sometime last january]")
![EBK | Niklewicz [rigorous]](https://ebkgallery.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/rigorous-1.jpg "EBK | Niklewicz [rigorous]")
![EBK | Niklewicz [chicken soup sculpture]](https://ebkgallery.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/chicken-soup-sculpture-1.jpg "EBK | Niklewicz [chicken soup sculpture]")
Recent Press and Publication links
from Art New England (click here)
from Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art (click here)
from Connecticut Offices of Culture and Tourism (click here)
from The re:art (click here)
CV / Resume
Adam Niklewicz
EDUCATION
Purchase College (SUNY), School of Art + Design, NY, MFA
2006
Artists Studio Residency, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France 1996
Washington University, School of Fine Arts, St. Louis, Missouri, BFA 1989
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2012 Walking Around a Tree, video projection, public art project,
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art / Real Art Ways /
City of Hartford, Hartford, CT
2012 The Charter Oak, water mural, public art project, Wadsworth
Atheneum Museum of Art / Real Art Ways / City of
Hartford, Hartford, CT
2011 Locus Communis (commonplace), Black & White Gallery /
Project Space, Brooklyn, NY (catalogue)
2009 The Soup Show, installation, FiveMyles, Brooklyn, NY
(brochure)
2007 The Invisible Solid, installation, Long Island University Art
Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2006 The Ballad of the Twin Beekeepers, installation, Real Art
Ways, Hartford, CT (brochure)
2004 New Works, installations, New Space Gallery (at MCC),
Manchester, CT
2002 New/Now, installations, New Britain Museum of American
Art, New Britain, CT
2001 Signs, installations, Silvermine Art Center, New Canaan, CT
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2014 Dlugosc Cugli Wyznacza Srednice Areny,
The Contemporary Art Gallery, Opole, Poland (catalogue)
2014 Smack Mellon Hot Pics, Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, NY
2014 Arte Laguna Prize, Nappe Arsenale Novissimo, Venice, Italy
(catalogue)
2013 The Power of Place, Hudson Valley Center for
Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY (catalogue)
2012 Powaga/Der Ernst/Seriousness, Galeria afk (Austriackie
Forum Kultury), Warsaw, Poland
2011 Art Moves – Art on Billboards, Galeria Rusz, Torun,
Poland (catalogue)
2011 Jerzy Kosalka / Adam Niklewicz Wystawa Sponsorowana, The
Contemporary Art Gallery, Opole, Poland (catalogue)
2010 Post-Gogol: The Silent Absence of the Body, Slag Gallery,
New York, NY
Kissed by Genius, Artifacts Lanier Collections, Darien, CT
2009 Immaterial, Black & White Gallery, New York, NY
2008 Catching the Word, Black & White Gallery, New York, NY
The Inaugural Show, b42 Gallery, Ontario, Canada
Kraj – Works of Artists of Polish Origin, The Contemporary
Art Gallery, Opole, Poland (catalogue)
2007 50 000 Beds Project, The Aldrich Museum / ARTspace /
Real Art Ways, CT (catalogue)
2006 Fall/Winter Exhibition, International Sculpture Center,
Grounds For Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ (catalogue)
Poza, Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT (catalogue)
2005 Peekskill Project, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary
Art, Peekskill, NY
From the Sound Lab, Pelham Art Center, Pelham, NY
2004 All of the Above, Maass Gallery, Purchase College, Purchase,
NY
Shifting Affinities, Yale School of Art, Green Hall Gallery,
New Haven, CT
2004 Artists Play House, Stamford Museum, Stamford, CT
Web (space) Artist for March 2004, Artists Space, New York,
NY
2003 Territories, Galerie fur Landschaftskunst, Hamburg,
Germany and ArtSpace, New Haven, CT (catalogue)
2002 This is Then, Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT (catalogue)
8 Reflections On Time, John Slade Ely House, New Haven,
CT
Snapshot, The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art,
Ridgefield,CT
2001 Central Connecticut State University Fine Arts Faculty
Exhibition, Samuel T. Chen Art Center Gallery, New Britain,
CT
2000 The Connecticut Vision, Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury,
CT
SELECTED AWARDS AND GRANTS
2010 A.R.T. Fund Grant from the Berkshire Taconic Foundation,
Sheffield, Massachusetts
2008 Artist Fellowship Grant from Connecticut Commission on
Culture and Tourism
2006 International Sculpture Center’s Outstanding Student
Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award, Hamilton, New
Jersey
2001 The Grumbacher Award, “Art of the Northeast”, Silvermine Art
Center, New Canaan, Connecticut
2000 AAUP Faculty Development Grant, Central Connecticut State
University, New Britain, Connecticut
SELECTED COLLECTIONS AND COMMISSIONS
New Britain Museum of Amercian Art
New York City Opera
Smithsonian Institution
Connecticut Artists Collection
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Elysian McNiff and Elizabeth Keithline, “Public Art: Preparing for the New Chapter”, Art New England, (March/April 2013), illus.
Suzannah Hills, “Careful, Wet Paint! The Invisible Graffiti That Only Shows up When There’s Water on It”, The Daily Mail (UK), (February 13, 2013), illus.
( http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2278005/The-ingenious-graffiti-shows-theres-water-it.html )
Rain Activated Art, IGNANT (Germany), (November 1, 2012), illus. ( http://www.ignant.de/2012/11/01/rain-activated-art )
Sara Bertuccioli, “Il graffito che compare con l’acqua”, The Huffington Post (Italy), (October 17, 2012), illus. ( http://www.huffingtonpost.it/2012/10/17/-adam-niklewicz-disegna-una-quercia-su-una-sinagoga-sconsacrata-_n_1973888.html )
Patrick James, “This Public Art Project Appears Only When It Rains”, Scientific American, (October 31, 2012), illus. ( http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=this-public-art-appears-only-when-i-2012-10 )
Adam Niklewicz, IGNANT (Germany), (April 23, 2012), illus. ( http://www.ignant.de/2012/04/23/adam-niklewicz )
Steven Barnes, “Post-Gogol” at Slag, ARTnews, (May 2010), p. 117, illus.
POZA: On Polishness of Polish Contemporary Art, edited by Marek Bartelik, published by Real Art Ways, distributed by D.A.P., Hartford, New York, 2008, pp. 108-113, illus.
“Room Service”, Modern Painters Magazine, (July-August 2007), p.20, illus.
“International Sculpture Center’s Awards Presentation”, Sculpture Magazine, (October 2006), p.55, illus.
Roberta Hershenson, “Flirting With Fame,” The New York Times, (Sunday, December 25 2005), Arts & Entertainment, section 14, WE, p. 6, illus.
“Apiary Art,” The New York Times, (Sunday, December 11, 2005), Arts, section 14, WE, illus.
Alisa Solomon, “Art Makes a Difference,” The Nation. (November 8, 2004), pp. 28-32,
illus.
”A Political Canvas,” The New York Times, (Sunday, September 5, 2004), section 14, CT, p. 13, illus.
L.P. Streitfeld, “Play House” Invites Audiences,” The Stamford Advocate, (Sunday, July 18, 2004), Arts, pD3, illus.
Judy Birke, “(Belated) Praise For Shows That Got Away,” New Haven Register, (Sunday, July 4, 2004), Arts, illus.
Judy Birke, “Oriented, and Reoriented, in “Territories” at Artspace’s untitled (space) Gallery,” New Haven Register, (Sunday, March 9, 2003), Arts, illus.
Margaret Wozniacki, “Artist’s Installations Can Be Startling,” The Herald, (Monday, December 11, 2002), A3.
Patricia Rosof, “Forget About it? ,At RAW, a New Show About Memory,” The Hartford Advocate, (Thursday, December 19, 2002), Arts & Entertainment, p.21, illus.
Alistair Highet, “Home Alone, Polish-born Artist in Two New Shows,” Preview Connecticut, (December, 2002), pp. 27-31, illus.
Owen McNally, “Tribute to Christo in New Britain,” The Hartford Courant, (Thursday, November 14, 2002, section Cal, illus.
“NEW/NOW: Adam Niklewicz,” Art & Insight”, (Autumn 2002), p.6, illus.
William Zimmer, “A Show of the Gritty and the Spiritual,” The New York Times, (Sunday, January 13, 2002), section 14, CT, p. 10, illus.
D. Dominick Lombardi, “Crossing Borders and Not Just In Art,” The New York Times, (Sunday, July 22, 2001), section 14, CT, p. 10, illus.
D. Dominick Lombardi, “Eight Artists Cross the Border”, The New York Times, (Sunday, July 15, 2001), section 14, WE, p. 8, illus.
L.P. Streitfeld, “Focus on Color at Silvermine Excavates Intellectual Treasure”,
The Advocate & Greenwich Time, (Sunday, July 8, 2001), Arts, p. D3, illus.
“Artists and Homelands”, The New York Times, (Sunday, March 25, 2001), Section 14, CT, p. 16.
William Zimmer, “Largely Traditional Show at Silvermine,” The New York Times, (Sunday, May 28, 2000), Section 14, CT, p.15, illus.
Valerie Cruice, “A Bit of Revelry for Art’s Sake,” The New York Times, (Sunday, November 7, 1999), Section 14, CT, p.4, illus.
“A Different Kind of Show,” The New York Times, (Sunday, August 29, 1999), Section 14, NJ, p.11, illus.