| Mikołaj Sobczak | |
| Birth Date: | 1989 |
| Birth Place: | Poznań, Poland |
| Education: | Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Berlin University of the Arts, Kunstakademie Münster |
| Nationality: | Polish |
Mikołaj Sobczak (born 1989) is a Polish artist. His artwork mixes painting, video, and performance art. In addition to portraying alternate historical visions, Sobczak's artwork combines daily life with surreal collaged visual narratives in which he incorporates characters from countercultural emancipatory movements and LGBTQIA+ activism.[1] Sobczak lives and works in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Sobczak graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw in the Studio of Spatial Activities, later obtained a scholarship at Berlin University of the Arts, and studied as well at Kunstakademie Münster.[2] Sobczak's work have been in public collections such as Moderna Museet (Stockholm), Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen (Düsseldorf), Ludwig Forum (Aachen), and The Perimeter (London).[3]
For his contemporary concerns regarding queerness in an era of political radicalization, Sobczak draws on avant-garde ideas of Polish postwar theater, such as that of Tadeusz Kantor.[4] Sobczak also frequently collaborates with Nicholas Grafia, a Filipino-born German artist. Sobczak's works often focus on topics such as emancipation, freedom, and marginalization, which he tackles through fictional narratives and mythic creatures, revealing the larger political problem on a worldwide scale.[5] He predominantly examines the representation of historical events and raises questions regarding the formation of identities and cultures amidst the canonization of history by threading in fictional narratives such as sagas and myths.[6]