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Don’t hate the player, hate the game

2024

“Bielska jesień” [Bielsko Autumn] is the most important painting competition in Poland, held every two years. In the years between editions, a curated exhibition is organised.

In 2024, the exhibition was titled Don’t hate the player, hate the game, curated by Janek Owczarek and Piotr Policht. The curators explored the relationship between painting and the art market, presenting examples of how artists navigate galleries, collectors, and their own creative needs. In the introductory text, they wrote:

Painting has been, is, and will continue to be a commodity. Good painting can be recognised by the fact that it is something more.

I led the creative direction of the event, designing the posters, exhibition display, and catalogue.

An outdoor advertising pillar in a park setting, wrapped in large pink and peach posters for the exhibition at Galeria Bielska BWA.

Bubble wrap became the main element of the the exhibition’s visual identity. At times it covered, at others it revealed typography and images. This material is commonly used to package paintings in galleries; once wrapped, the canvas becomes a commodity. The posters and promotional materials used four pastel colours — magenta, green, orange and pink. The typography was based on a single sans-serif typeface – Open Sauce, with contrast created by scale and spatial relationships.

Close-up of an exhibition poster showing dates and artist names, featuring a printed graphic of bubble wrap over a peach background.
Detailed view of a pink exhibition poster with a fargment of title and a textured graphic resembling transparent bubble wrap.

Pedestrians walk past a street-level window displaying four colorful exhibition posters in pink, green, yellow, and beige.

A 3D isometric architectural plan of a narrow gallery wing showing artwork placement along a windowed corridor.
A 3D isometric floor plan of the main gallery room, showing white pillars, a purple accent wall, and a central installation structure.

The exhibition occupied two floors of Galeria Bielska BWA, and bubble wrap also shaped the display design. Its rolls stood in the gallery much like they would in the storeroom of a private gallery or collector.

A gallery corner with white walls; rolls of bubble wrap stand in a corner next to paintings under “The ‘Gift’ Economy” and “The Salon” labels.

Gallery view through a doorway; a painting of large green eyes is in the foreground, with easels and various artworks in the background.
Wide view of the gallery interior showing a purple wall on the left and large-scale paintings mounted on white pillars in an open hall.
Four small figurative oil paintings depicting nude figures, hung in a row against a deep purple gallery wall with yellow labels.
A black-and-white expressionist painting of a car’s front grille in the foreground, with small portraits on a purple wall behind it.
Photos by Krzysztof Morcinek
A large, walk-in rectangular chapel made of industrial bubble wrap standing in the center of the gallery space.
Close-up of a semi-transparent bubble wrap curtain hanging in the gallery with a yellow identification tag against a green wall.
An atmospheric, blurry photo of people inside a gallery space seen through a bubble wrap.

On the upper floor, a chapel-like room made from bubble wrap was constructed. Its transparent walls concealed paintings, making viewers feel as though they were packed together with the works.

A dimly lit chapel view where a landscape painting of a lake is hung behind a semi-transparent bubble wrap screen.

I pay particular attention to typographic details. Technical descriptions of the artworks were printed on paper plates resembling shop labels, complete with mounting slots shaped like Euro holes, commonly used for displaying products on retail shelves.

A vibrant orange gallery corner featuring a green abstract painting with a spiral motif and cryptic text at the bottom.
Close-up of a yellow wall label for Tymek Borowski’s artwork “BWUOWRBU,” with a colorful, splattered painting visible above it.
A yellow identification tag pinned to a white wall for Mariola Przyjemska’s painting “Saturn” (2015).

A wide graphic composite of colorful book spines and covers featuring keys, a blue-lit hand, and ISBN barcodes.

The exhibition was accompanied by a catalogue containing reproductions of all the paintings and two essays: one by the curators and one by Agata Pyzik. The book was published with two different covers featuring different paintings. Roman numerals were used for the essay section, and Arabic numerals for the section devoted to the artworks.

A catalog spread on a magenta background showing photos of artworks on walls.
A book spread on a pink background; the right page shows a detail of artwork obscured by a textured bubble wrap pattern.
A book spread showing Zuzanna Bartoszek’s painting “U-Bahn,” depicting a yellow industrial interior with the word “AHA” painted on it.
A book spread featuring a deep blue painting by Łukasz Radziszewski of a car interior at night, titled “And The Romantic Horse.”
A book spread featuring Patrycja Cichosz’s work “House of the Domestic Spider” with tall vertical shapes and a yellow web-like form.
An open book spread on a magenta background showing an essay titled “DE PICTURA” by Janek Owczarek and Piotr Policht.