About
Aleksandra Schmelz (née Walczak), born in 1992 – visual artist, graduate of the University of the Arts in Poznań. Since 2018, her main medium has been taxidermy, through which she creates personalities on the border between fairy tales and nightmares. In her work, she explores the human-animal relationship, focusing on finding similarities in the way emotions and relationships are experienced.
Her objects function as fragments of an alternative world, in which a dark aesthetic brings themes of fear and anxiety to the forefront. This world was built as a response to the difficulties of a child on the autism spectrum adapting in a conservative family. Abominable animal hybrids are often a literal window into inner experiences.
The artist works under the pseudonym AlexTaxidermy, through which her works reach private collectors and museums. This allows her creations to be fulfilled, as they cannot exist without a real recipient and their personal connection.
Her works are created through a fully independent process – from preparing the materials (including tanning the hides) to constructing the models onto which the skin is applied. She usually builds the forms from scratch, although she occasionally uses ready‑made polyurethane elements, which she reshapes and adapts to her own concepts.
Exhibitions (selected)
2018
Trzy pracownie
Three Studios
BWA Art Gallery, Jelenia Góra, Poland
Curator: Rafał Boettner‑Łubowski
2017
INTER‑Przestrzenie
INTER‑Spaces
u Jezuitów Gallery, Stary Rynek, Poznań, Poland
Group exhibition
Curator: Rafał Boettner‑Łubowski
2016
Pracownia Otwartych Interpretacji Sztuki
Studio of Open Interpretations of Art
Arsenał Municipal Gallery, Poznań, Poland
Group exhibition of POIS students
Curator: Rafał Boettner‑Łubowski
Wystawa Pracowni Otwartych Interpretacji Sztuki
Exhibition of the Studio of Open Interpretations of Art
Profil Gallery, ZAMEK Culture Centre, Poznań, Poland
Group exhibition of POIS students
Artistic supervision: Rafał Boettner‑Łubowski
2015
Rafał Boettner‑Łubowski i Pracownia Otwartych Interpretacji Sztuki
Rafał Boettner‑Łubowski and the Studio of Open Interpretations of Art
Wozownia Art Gallery, Toruń, Poland
Group exhibition
Wystawa Pracowni Otwartych Interpretacji Sztuki
Exhibition of the Studio of Open Interpretations of Art
Profil Gallery, ZAMEK Culture Centre, Poznań, Poland
Group exhibition of POIS students
Artistic supervision: Rafał Boettner‑Łubowski
Uwagi o sztuce
Notes on Art
Profil Gallery, ZAMEK Culture Centre, Poznań, Poland
Group exhibition
2014
DRAW & GO
MONA Art Gallery, Poznań, Poland
Group exhibition
Publication
Stoner Polski (2020)
Taxidermy – Stoner Polski