Grotesque, Memory, Imagination… A World Told Through Colour
Exhibition Review
Jan Jagoda’s painting grows out of a need to experience reality continuously, observing it attentively and with sensitivity, but also with an ironic detachment. Born in 1954 in Chełm Śląski and based in Imielin for many years, the artist works in a space that fosters concentration and freedom: a red-brick house built with bricks salvaged from demolition, surrounded by a wild garden, with a studio and easels that have become an almost everyday presence. This is where his painting, pulsating with energy, emotion and personal history, takes shape.
Jagoda has been painting since childhood, driven by an inner imperative, a need to create that he can neither ignore nor wishes to suppress. He has always painted wherever and whenever he could: in the cab of a lorry, while waiting to see a doctor, in moments of fatigue and weakness. A diagnosis of a neurological condition, with which he has lived for more than a decade, did not interrupt this path. On the contrary, painting became a form of resistance and a struggle for precision of movement, for every line and every patch of colour. This determination provides an important context for his art, although the work itself does not dwell on the burden of experience.
Paradoxically, Jagoda’s paintings are cheerful, often humorous, even when they address difficult subjects such as the pandemic, war or social tensions. The artist readily employs grotesque, exaggeration and humour, softening his message without making it trivial. Bright, clear colours, dynamic figures and expressive gestures give the paintings an immediate visual impact, drawing the eye and generating a sense of sympathy. Only a more attentive gaze reveals their symbolic layer: a reflection on the condition of the contemporary world and of the individual immersed in the chaos of everyday life.
Formally, Jagoda works with an intense, contrasting palette dominated by reds, greens and blues, complemented by violets and pinks. His use of acrylic paint, often enriched with pastels and watercolour, encourages spontaneity of gesture and the construction of dynamic compositions. Figurative motifs, people, animals and elements of the Silesian landscape, function as cultural and emotional signs, creating a subjective map of the artist’s experiences.
His painting is spontaneous, but not accidental. It matures through the process of making, breathing between successive brushstrokes. Jagoda’s style resists convention, lively and open-ended, full of ambiguity, omissions and a provocative sincerity. It is consciously primitive, in the positive sense of the word, emphasising the authenticity of the message and an uninhibited creative force.
An important context for this work is the artist’s membership of the Janowska Group, a legendary artistic community associated with Nikiszowiec that has helped shape the artistic landscape of Silesia for decades. The group’s legacy is documented by the Silesian Museum, and works by its members, including Jan Jagoda, form part of the museum’s permanent collection. This grounding in tradition and community does not, however, constrain the artist’s individual voice. On the contrary, it reinforces its authenticity.
Jan Jagoda’s painting balances humour and seriousness, lightness and experiences at the limits of endurance. It is an art that does not shy away from difficult subjects, but is able to make them more approachable through colour, humour and gesture. It invites the viewer on a journey through an intense, personal and ambiguous world, one that nevertheless remains an affirmation of life.
Jan Jagoda
In Jest and in Earnest
An exhibition from the collection of the Department of Non-Professional Art of the Silesian Museum in Katowice
July–August 2025 (extended until 8 September 2025)
Exhibition closing event: 8 September 2025, 17:00
Property of the Lublin Theater Therapy Foundation. All rights reserved.
Realized with financial support from the City of Lublin