Born in Warsaw, Piotr Uklański emerged on the New York art scene in the mid-1990s after studying painting at the Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw and photography at Cooper Union, New York. Dividing his time between New York and Warsaw, Uklański has constructed a diverse body of work that exploits many types of media (painting, sculpture, photography, collage, performance, and film) as it promiscuously absorbs cultural references. As the artist does not shy away from potentially controversial subjects, Uklański’s work often draws polemical reactions. His historic photographic series, The Nazis, incited protests when exhibited in The Photographers’ Gallery in London in 1998.
The artist’s works are represented in international private and public collections, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim in New York; Tate Modern in London; the Francois Pinault Foundation in Paris; and Muzeum Susch, among others.