Daniel Rycharski

Crown (2023) / Double-Headed Eagle (2023) / Scarecrow (2023) / Tender Armor (2023)

Double-Headed Eagle, photo: Katarzyna Legendź, courtesy of the artist and Gunia Nowik Gallery

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Daniel Rycharski bridges a gap between two worlds. As an artist who identifies as LGBTQ+, he would seem more at home in a big city than in the village in which he lives. Yet, Rycharski is also a practicing Catholic and often collaborates with his neighbors for his art projects—including those in the photographs on display, which were originally exhibited at an abandoned farm.

Scarecrow blends a traditional peasant costume with contemporary rural work clothes, addressing Poland’s current economic situation, but also what the artist sees as its spiritual crisis. Crown revisits the biblical image of God giving a crown of white hair to Abraham with hair collected from elderly neighbors. Double-Headed Eagle recasts the Polish national symbol in sheaves of grain, countering the promise of bountiful harvest with the vision of a divided society surveilled by the state. Tender Armor obliquely refers to the folk cult of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa—regarded as the protector of all Poles, especially the vulnerable and marginalized—casting her as a potential ally of the LGBTQ+ community.

Daniel Rycharski (1986, Kurówko, Poland) is an artist who works in various media, with installations at the forefront of his artistic practice. He deals with the themes of provincialism, religiosity, Christianity, and LGBTQ+ identity, seeking tensions and new relations between them. He has created numerous site-specific installations in public space and has had solo exhibitions, among others, at the State Gallery of Art, Sopot (2024); Galeria Zielona 13, Łódź (2023); Kunstmuseum Bonn (2022); Gunia Nowik Gallery, Warsaw (2022); and Villa Arson, Nice (2020). Rycharski lives in Kurówko.

Crown (2023)
Steel, human hair, cushion, at We Are a Fairy Tale Inside (2023), Kurówko, Poland, photo: Katarzyna Legendź

Double-Headed Eagle (2023)
Wood, grains of wheat and barley, 124 × 120 cm, at We Are a Fairy Tale Inside (2023), Kurówko, Poland, photo: Katarzyna Legendź

Scarecrow (2023)
Straw scarecrow, various textiles, at We Are a Fairy Tale Inside (2023), Kurówko, Poland, photo: Katarzyna Legendź

Tender Armor (2023)
Wool, steel armor, at We Are a Fairy Tale Inside (2023), Kurówko, Poland, photo: Katarzyna Legendź

Courtesy of the artist and Gunia Nowik Gallery