Izabella Gustowska (b. 1948, Poznań), "Olga and Izabella | Kiki and Gucio," 2025.

Literature
"I often think about women artists about their difficult lives in which they put art first and about her Olga living in Paris about her thriving career and the sad end of her life.

I chose Olga specifically for the Herstory project , because perhaps I am captivated by her anecdotes about ants in a candy dish, her friendship with mice and her stuffed ratdog Bobi.

Olga Boznanska and I - Izabella and our joint portrait. What we have in common is probably work, art and of course the dogs in our embrace - her terrier KIKI (Qui, Qui) and my dachshund GUCIO. Maybe I should title it differently KIKI and GUCIO or Qui, Qui and Gucio?"

ISABELLA GUSTOWSKA

Biography
In 1972 she graduated - in the studio of Tadeusz Brzozowski - from the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan. Currently a professor at this university. In 1975-92 she ran the ON Gallery in Poznań, with which she has been working ever since. She creates graphics, painting, installations and video installations, video-performance, objects. She combines her works into cycles, including: Relative Features of Similarity I (1979-90; objects, prints, installations); Dreams (1990-94; installations, video installations, prints); Flowing (1994-97; objects, video-objects and installation); Life is a Story (since 2002; video installation). She has had many solo exhibitions at home and abroad, including in Warsaw, Wroclaw, Sopot, Hannover, Lund, Rennes and Edmonton. The artist has also shown her works in group exhibitions: Sao Paulo Biennale (twice), Vienna, Washington, Dresden, Amsterdam, Barcelona and New York. Her works are in many international collections around the world. She has won numerous awards and prizes.