Mikołaj Sobczak

Capitain Petzel is pleased to present Mikołaj Sobczak’s second solo exhibition at the gallery. The exhibition centers on three large-format paintings commissioned by the Salzburger Kunstverein. They were first shown in 2025 as part of the exhibition Moon, Sun, Mercury at the Salzburger Kunstverein, which was supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Poland.

In Ancora (Italian for “again” or “still”), Mikołaj Sobczak interweaves historical events with elements of the present, focusing on the recurring cycles through which historical narratives are continually reconfigured. In doing so, he approaches each era through its diverse connections – ranging from political figures and celebrities to pop-cultural references, technological developments, and memes.

The works in the exhibition blend historical allegories, queer identities, and contemporary social critique into a dense, multilayered visual language. The paintings Moon (Propaganda), Sun (Magical Realism), and Mercury (Underground) bring together a wide range of historical and contemporary queer activists, revolutionaries, writers, artists, and scholars. They appear in carefully choreographed proximity to antagonistic archetypes, ranging from tech oligarchs to grotesque personifications of capitalism and fascism. By assembling these disparate figures on large-format canvases – a format traditionally associated with history painting – Mikołaj Sobczak reveals narratives of resistance and survival in the face of oppressive power structures.

Mikołaj Sobczak is currently part of the group exhibition House of Nisaba: New Stories of Painting at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm.

Mikołaj Sobczak’s recent solo exhibitions include Rozenstraat, Amsterdam; Salzburger Kunstverein; Jester– Flanders Arts Institute, Genk, Belgium; and Kunsthalle Münster. His works have been shown in numerous group exhibitions, including at the Ludwig Forum, Aachen; Shedhalle, Zurich; Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin; MUDAM, Luxembourg; the Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw; the Whitechapel Gallery, London; and the Folkwang Museum, Essen. His works are included in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA); Moderna Museet, Stockholm; the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf; the Ludwig Forum, Aachen; The Perimeter, London; the Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw; and the National Museum in Gdańsk, among others. In 2021, Sobczak was awarded the Paszport Polityki, Poland’s most prestigious art prize. He has been an artist-in-residence at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam and participated in the Art Explora – Cité internationale des arts residency program in Paris. As one of four selected artists, he has recently been awarded the Villa Romana Prize for 2026.