Małgorzata (Gosia) Łapsa-Malawska was born in Przemyśl, Poland in 1981 and completed an MA in lithography at The Faculty of Art Pedagogical University of Krakow, in 2007. She arrived in the UK in October 2012 with her husband after working as a graphic designer in Krakow from 2009-2012 and then travelling in South America. Her pared-down painterly practice is rooted in the modernist approach of the ‘Young Poland Movement’ and informed by the simplicity and subtlety at the core of Japanese aesthetics. Confronting issues around identity and belonging, and difficult moments in Poland's 20th century history, she exhibits regularly in London and is an associate artist at The Muse gallery and studio in Portobello, London W11.
Małgorzata (Gosia) Łapsa-Malawska was born in Przemyśl, Poland in 1981. She completed an MA in lithography at The Faculty of Art Pedagogical University of Krakow, Poland in 2007 and arrived in the UK in October 2012 with her husband (due to his employment contract as a digital architect), after working as a graphic designer for the Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology in Krakow from 2009-2012 and then travelling in Chile for almost a year. Not ready to return to Poland then, as she observed, '[...]we choose [sic] London because it is in Europe and was EU back then so from [a] distance and family perspective we didn't see it as a big change [...] London is a good place for my art practice anyway [...] We bought a house here. Our son was born here' (email to Ben Uri, 2023)
Her painterly practice is rooted in the modernist approach of the ‘Young Poland Movement’ and informed by the simplicity and subtlety at the core of Japanese aesthetics. Her practice is loosely based on the principle of ideas following the brush wherever it leads; fragments of memories are condensed into semi-abstract landscapes, with figures reduced to silhouettes and shadows. A pared down palette, fading from Payne’s grey to white, allows the artist’s thoughts to visually disappear into the horizon while, at the same time, conjuring up a universal subconsciousness. Alongside aesthetic considerations, Łapsa-Malawska confronts issues around identity and belonging, and difficult moments in Poland's 20th century history. As she has written, ''The fleetingness of time, the inevitability of transience, are encapsulated in textures and marks; these may even be further reduced by keeping the process of stretching the canvas till last, as a final homage to the beauty that lies in imperfection and deterioration' (Email to Ben Uri, 2023).
Since arriving in the UK, Łapsa-Malawska has exhibited widely and has been the recipient of a number of awards, including winning the Sir Hugh Casson Drawing Prize in 2014. In the same year she was an artist-in-residence at The Muse gallery and studio at 269 Portobello Road, London W11, an artist-led space, where she has also been an associate artist since 2014. The Muse continues to host an annual residency programme, offering recent graduates and young artists subsidised studio space, a gallery in which to show their work, and the means to cultivate both client and industry connections. Łapsa-Malawska is also a member of the artist-led exhibiting group, Free Painters and Sculptors (FPS), and the Association of Polish Artists in Great Britain (APA). She has shown her work at the annual Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, London and with the Society of Women Artists. In summer 2023 she curated the group exhibition, SCARS at The Muse. She is currently creative director for purling.com, a company which designs chess sets. Malgorzata Łapsa-Malawska lives and works in Kingston-upon-Thames, south west London.