Joanna Pilarczyk

Joanna Pilarczyk is a London-based contemporary figurative painter. Born in Poland, she studied at the Art University in Zielona Góra, where she earned a Master’s degree in Visual Arts and Art Education.
Her work has received international recognition, including being shortlisted for the Guildford House Open 2025 and the Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery. She is a recipient of the Boynes Monthly Artist Award (November 2024) and has been a finalist for the International FiKVA Award for Figurative Painters (2023) and the Women United Art Prize (2022, 2021).
Pilarczyk has exhibited widely in the UK and internationally, with presentations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Telluride, Munich, and Palm Beach.
Recent exhibitions include Women-Led Galleries Now on Artsy with the Untitled Space Gallery and Venus Reclaimed at 33 Contemporary Gallery, both celebrating Women’s History Month.
Her practice is rooted in contemporary figurative painting, combining the human figure with vibrant abstract forms, geometric patterns, and lush botanical elements.
Influenced by her move from post-Soviet Poland to multicultural London, Pilarczyk explores themes of identity, relationships, and belonging. Working pri...

MA degree in Visual Art Education, University of Zielona Gora, Poland, Diploma in Oil Painting in 2008.
Art Technician degree with Diploma in figurative oil painting, Art Collage, Zielona Gora, Poland, 2000

AWARDS:

Shortlisted for the Guildford House Open 2025
Shortlisted for the Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award 2025
Winner of the Boynes Monthly Art Award [Nov. 2024]
Winner of the Untitled Magazine Cover Artist, May 2024
Longlisted for Jackson's Art Prize 2024
Shortlisted for Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award 2024, Winner of the Boynes Monthly Art Award [Nov. 2023]
Finalist in the FiKVA Award for Painters 2023
Special mention in the Women United Art Prize 2023
Winner of the Boynes Monthly Art Award [Nov. 2022]
Finalist in the Women United Art Prize 2022, 2021.
Artists of the Month by Art from Heart, UK

2026 - Women-Led Galleries Now, art fair on Artsy, Untitled Space Gallery, New York, USA
2026 - Venus Reclaimed, group exhibition, 33 Contemporary Gallery, Palm Beach, USA
2025 - Guildford House Open 2025, group exhibition, Guildford Gallery, UK
2025 - Give me Five, Art Fluent, group exhibition, International
2025 - Lightness of being, Create!, curated by Sergio Gomez, director of 33 Contemporary Gallery, group exhibition, International
2025 - Forever After?, Mash Gallery, Los Angeles, US
2025 - Women in Art Fair, Oxo Tower Gallery, London, UK
2025 - Baring It All, Art Fluent, International Group Exhibition.
2025 - IWD: Modern Female, 33 Contemporary, Palm Beach, US
2025 - Uprise 2025 - The Art of Resistance, Untitled Space Gallery, New York.
2025 - A Gogo III, Mash Gallery, Los Angeles, US
2024 - Women in Art Fair, Mall Galleries, London, UK
2024 - London's Finest group exhibition curated by Art Friend Gallery, Royal Society of Arts, London, UK
2024 - Joanna Pilarczyk: My Paradise, online solo exhibition on Artsy, The Untitled Space, NY, USA
2024 - Superfine Art Fair, The Untitled Magazine’s Booth, Times Square, New York
2024 - The Male Figure, Kunstbehandlung Gallery, Munich, Germany
2024 - Shadows, virtual group show, Royal Blue...