Jacek Rykała

Jacek Rykała (born 1 September 1950 in Sosnowiec) is a Polish painter, draughtsman, author of painted objects, poet, playwright, theatre director, stage designer and educator. He is a professor of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice, where he served as vice-rector from 2005 to 2012 and headed Painting Studio I. His work combines oil painting, collage, photographs, elements of everyday objects, theatre activities and works in public space. He is the author of the plays Dom przeznaczony do wyburzenia, Mleczarnia and Chłodne poranki. His works combine the urban landscape with collage and objects, while human presence is often evoked indirectly through abandoned things, photographs and architectural details. Cycles and themes present in his work include benches, gates, windows, courtyards, landscapes, Podszepty dzielnicy Sielec, Światła Środuli, Rezydencje, Lśnienie, Żółte światło pustych miejsc and Chłodne poranki. In a regional context, his work deals with the memory of places, traces of former residents, the experience of time and the space of Sosnowiec and the Dąbrowa Basin, including the districts of Sielec and Środula. More recent summaries of his exhibition record mention over 80 solo exhibitions and participation in more than 300 art exhibitions. In 2007, at the same theatre, he directed Mleczarnia, for which he also prepared the musical arrangement and multimedia projections. In 2012, at the Teatr Zagłębia in Sosnowiec, he staged Chłodne poranki as playwright, director, author of the musical arrangement and costume designer. Rykała's theatre work develops motifs present in his painting, including the house, demolition, memory of place and the disappearance of old urban space. In 2026, at Małachowskiego Street in the Sosnowiec Art Courtyard, a monumental mural inspired by the painting Elisabeth Balut was being prepared; the project was designed by Jacek Rykała, and Aleksander Kozera and Miłosz Wnukowski were involved in its execution. In 2025, at the Museum in Sosnowiec, as part of the Ars Cameralis Festival, the installation Wyjście | Wejście was presented; it included the painting Ayer. His mural projects in Sosnowiec develop motifs present in his paintings, including the urban courtyard, façade, window, gate and traces of former residents, transferring them from paintings and painted objects into public space.

Silver Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis (2011)

Distinction at the Internationale Kunstbiennale "Seetal" in Switzerland (1985)

Sosnowiec City Award for artistic activity for 1992 (1992)

Annual Artistic Award of the Marshal of the Silesian Voivodeship (2011)