Born in 1994 in Lublin, he graduated from the Władysław Strzemiński Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź, with a degree in painting. He currently works at the Łódź Academy of Fine Arts as an assistant in the Studio for Painting Actions in Public Spaces and as a laboratory assistant in the Photography and Multimedia Department.
He works in the fields of painting and sculpture, exploring themes of personal and cultural identity. By mythologizing and monumentalizing the figure of the common person, he seeks to portray them within his own vision of broadly understood social belonging. In his paintings, he employs his unique technique of oil sticks, characterized by a drawing-like quality.
Flis avoids overt storytelling through images, opting instead for flat interwoven figures with blank faces or pinkish mountains of luminous flesh in reed-like settings. It’s unclear whether the figures are sinking, fighting for fun, or are entirely serious, which makes them, in a McLuhan sense, a “cool medium,” open to interpretation and reinterpretation according to one’s own conscience. Urban legend says that his work is a less oppressive Rorschach test, where viewers must confess only to an excess of militaristic or erotic associations. Writing about Flis’s work for Vogue, Basia Czyżewska quotes Bell Hooks: "The first act of violence that patriarchy demands of men is not directed toward women. Men are forced to engage in acts of psychic self-mutilation, to kill off the emotional parts of themselves." Flis's giants embody the trauma associated with the pressures of archetypal masculinity.
Collections: BWA Bielsko Gallery, Wojciech Fibak’s collection, Tomasz Pasiek’s collection, GPD Agency’s collection, private collections in Germany and Sweden.
Awards:
14th Geppert Competition, 2023
46th Painting Biennale, Bielska Jesień, 2023
SOLO
2024
- I’m Waiting All Winter Long For the Storks to Come Back, BWA Warszawa, Warsaw
2023
- Artist Talk - Bartłomieja Flisa and Małgorzaty Mycek, BWA Warszawa, Warsaw
- Giants, Clay, Warsaw
GROUP
2024
- We don't show Picasso, Złącze Gallery, Poznan
- New generation and classics from the collection of Wojciech Fibak, CSW Torun
- Music of the City, Rondo Sztuki, Katowice
- Oneiric Reality, Emi_Art_Warsaw, Warsaw
2023
- And In the Wilderness, BWA Warszawa, Warsaw
- Być sobie jednym, GPD Agency, Poznan
- The 46 th Biennale Bielska Jesien 2023 (laureate)
- 14th Geppert Competition, BWA Wrocław
2022
- Refugees Welcome, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw
2021
- The 45th Biennale Bielska Jesien 2021 (finalist)
2019
- Best Diplomas of the Academy of Fine Arts, Zbrojownia Sztuki, Gdansk
- "Nowe pokolenie i klasycy z kolekcji Wojciecha Fibaka", CSW Znaki czasu, Toruń 2024
- "Bartłomiej Flis: Czuły olbrzym" Basia Czyżewska, Vogue
https://www.vogue.pl/a/bartlomiej-flis-czuly-olbrzym
Born in 1994 in Lublin, he graduated from the Władysław Strzemiński Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź, with a degree in painting. He currently works at the Łódź Academy of Fine Arts as an assistant in the Studio for Painting Actions in Public Spaces and as a laboratory assistant in the Photography and Multimedia Department.
He works in the fields of painting and sculpture, exploring themes of personal and cultural identity. By mythologizing and monumentalizing the figure of the common person, he seeks to portray them within his own vision of broadly understood social belonging. In his paintings, he employs his unique technique of oil sticks, characterized by a drawing-like quality.
Flis avoids overt storytelling through images, opting instead for flat interwoven figures with blank faces or pinkish mountains of luminous flesh in reed-like settings. It’s unclear whether the figures are sinking, fighting for fun, or are entirely serious, which makes them, in a McLuhan sense, a “cool medium,” open to interpretation and reinterpretation according to one’s own conscience. Urban legend says that his work is a less oppressive Rorschach test, where viewers must confess only to an excess of militaristic or erotic associations. Writing about Flis’s work for Vogue, Basia Czyżewska quotes Bell Hooks: "The first act of violence that patriarchy demands of men is not directed toward women. Men are forced to engage in acts of psychic self-mutilation, to kill off the emotional parts of themselves." Flis's giants embody the trauma associated with the pressures of archetypal masculinity.
Collections: BWA Bielsko Gallery, Wojciech Fibak’s collection, Tomasz Pasiek’s collection, GPD Agency’s collection, private collections in Germany and Sweden.
Awards:
14th Geppert Competition, 2023
46th Painting Biennale, Bielska Jesień, 2023
SOLO
2024
- I’m Waiting All Winter Long For the Storks to Come Back, BWA Warszawa, Warsaw
2023
- Artist Talk - Bartłomieja Flisa and Małgorzaty Mycek, BWA Warszawa, Warsaw
- Giants, Clay, Warsaw
GROUP
2024
- We don't show Picasso, Złącze Gallery, Poznan
- New generation and classics from the collection of Wojciech Fibak, CSW Torun
- Music of the City, Rondo Sztuki, Katowice
- Oneiric Reality, Emi_Art_Warsaw, Warsaw
2023
- And In the Wilderness, BWA Warszawa, Warsaw
- Być sobie jednym, GPD Agency, Poznan
- The 46 th Biennale Bielska Jesien 2023 (laureate)
- 14th Geppert Competition, BWA Wrocław
2022
- Refugees Welcome, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw
2021
- The 45th Biennale Bielska Jesien 2021 (finalist)
2019
- Best Diplomas of the Academy of Fine Arts, Zbrojownia Sztuki, Gdansk
- "Nowe pokolenie i klasycy z kolekcji Wojciecha Fibaka", CSW Znaki czasu, Toruń 2024
- "Bartłomiej Flis: Czuły olbrzym" Basia Czyżewska, Vogue
https://www.vogue.pl/a/bartlomiej-flis-czuly-olbrzym