Niepsuj, now based in Warsaw, graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź in 2010, with an MA degree in Editorial Design; meanwhile, she studied in Portugal in Escola Superior de Artes e Design in Matosinhos and Faculdade de Belas Artes da Universidade do Porto. Her drawings have been published in some of the major magazines in Poland and abroad – one can find her works in publications such as Przekrój, Wprost, MaleMEN, Zwykłe Życie, Put A Egg On It (USA), or Pig Magazine (Italy). She is member of the ILLO agency which gathers a group of prominent young illustrators from Poland. Ola Niepuj continues to be connected to her hometown professionally – she currently works as an assistant at the Spatial Graphics and Poster Design Studio of her alma mater.
Niepsuj’s style has been recognized internationally - she has been commissioned to create visual identities for the Babel Festival of Literature and Translation in Bellinzona, Switzerland (2012), New York UndergroundZero Festival for Theatre Arts (2012), and the Guimarães Jazz Festival in Portugal (2011). The latter brought her the KTR (Advertising Creators Club) Gold Prize.
Her typographic designs are often reminiscent of street signage, hinting both at the clear-cut spirit of visual communication in public spaces, as well as the vernacular aesthetics intrinsic to the everyday street decorations. By animating the letters and elements around them, she manages to formulate her humorous comments on the cultural issues in a comprehensible way, at the same time deeply embedding them in the Polish design heritage. As Niepsuj admits, she is a fan of the Polish School of Poster, and especially names such as Jan Młodożeniec, Henryk Tomaszewski, Wojciech Zamecznik, or Wiktor Górka. She confesses that she is interested in their concise graphic solutions, and in thinking about how the graphic design looked like before the digital age.
The combination of the imaginative and the everyday visuals is very strongly apparent in the artist’s project for Pan Tu Nie Stał – a fashion and accessories label from Łódź, which is popular for reviving the aesthetics deriving from the 1970s and 1980s, in a humorous and nostalgic way. Niepsuj conceived a series of removable tattoos (a vintage concept which in the past was mainly targeted at children), which are witty, sexy, and engaging.
Ola Niepsuj insists that, even though she has mainly engaged in commercial projects, such as designing brand identities and logotypes, her favourite tasks are related to drawing and illustration. Apart from the previously mentioned magazines, her illustrations have been published in Czarodziejska Kura –an art periodical for children, and in the The Illustrated ABC of Design, published by the Association of Applied Graphic Designers (STGU) in 2013.
Awards and Honourable Mentions
2013
- Advertising Creators Club, Nomination in the Illustration category
2012
- Advertising Creators Club Gold in the Illustration category
2010
- First Prize in the International Poster Competition GOOD50X70
- Sfera Award in the 21st Władysław Strzemiński Competition PROJECT
- Poster Club Award in the 27nd Władysław Strzemiński Competition for Visual Arts, Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź
- 3rd Prize in the International Competition A Well Designed Book – Let’s Start with Children
- Honourable Mention at the Applied Graphics Biennale Agrafa in the Publication category and submission to the Visual Identities Exhibition
Selected Individual Exhibitions
2014
- Ola Niepsuj, exhibition of illustrations, Poco Galeria, Wrocław, Poland
- Ola Niepsuj, sxhibition of posters, Institute of Design, Kielce, Poland
2013
- 'Re:format Ola Niepsuj', Landschaft+Zwei, Bydgoszcz, Poland
2011
- Litera w Literze/Letter in a Letter, Typographic works by Aleksandra Niepsuj, Mała Litera bookshop, Łódź
- Re:format Aleksandra Niepsuj, part of the Graphic Design in Poland series; Tabu, Bydgoszcz
- Individual Exhibition of Graphic Design and Illustration Silkoworms Gallery, Poznań
- Individual Exhibition of Screenprints, Charlie Gallery, Łódź
2008
- Exhibition of screen prints, Charlie Gallery, Łódź, Poland
Selected Group Exhibitions
2014
- (plus 48) SOCIAL CLUB', Vacant, Tokyo, Japonia
- Typoplagát. Slovenské centrum dizajnu, Bratislava, Slovakia
- TYPOPOLO, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, Poland
- DESIGNING POLSKA – DESIGN IN POLAND, Tent London, UK
- Elementarz, Iloni Imedemaa Haapsalus, Haapsalu, Estonia
- La Fête du graphisme 2014, Les Docks - Cité de la Mode et du Design, Paris, France
2013
- Enfant Terrible. La Nouvelle Affiche Polonaise as part of the Design September in Brussels, Belgium
- Berlaymont Summa Artis II', Berlyamont, Brussels, Belgium
- DMY BERLIN. Polish Design Focus, Berlin Tempelhof, Berlin, Germany
- ART YARD SALE, Ufficio Primo, Warsaw
- The Polish Poster, Hereafter, Centro Hispano-Americano de Cultura, Havana, Cuba
- BICeBé, Bienal del Cartel Bolivia, Museo San Francisco, La Paz, Bolivia
2012
- The ABC, Illustration Exhibition as part of the Łódź Design Festival
- KPG – Exhibition of works by the lecturers and students of Graphic Design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź, Off Gallery, Łódź
- TYPO-ŁÓDŹ, Exhibition of Typographic Poster, University Bussiness Park, Łódź
- Project of the Year, Skopje Design Week, Bulgaria
- 23. International Poster Biennial, Wilanów Poster Museum
- Design for Freedom - Freedom in Design Exhibition. Graphic Design in Poland 1981-2011, Icheri Sheher, Baku, Azerbaijan
- Design for Freedom - Freedom in Design Exhibition. Graphic Design in Poland 1981-2011, Studio44, Tjärhovsgatan 44, 116 28 Stockholm, Sweden
- DEBT. Contemporary Polish Poster and Illustration on the subject of Debt, Living Theatre, New York City
- O-kupować, Soho Factory, Warsaw
- Euroart, Owoce i Warzywa, Łódz
- KPG – Exhibition of works by the lecturers and students of Graphic Design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź, Galeria Kobro, Łódź
2011
- Design for Freedom – Freedom in Design Exhibition. Graphic Design in Poland 1981-2011, Art Centre, Tokyo, Japan
- New Chaos – Illustration Exhibition, Zachęta, Katowice
- Das Plakat – Hier und Jezt, U-turm, Dortmund, Germany
2010
- Design for Freedom – Freedom in Design Exhibition. Graphic Design in Poland 1981-2011, Made my day Gallery, Berlin, Germany
- All Play & Work, Illo: Polish contemporary illustration exhibition, Pigasus, Berlin, Germany
- Re:Format, Graphic Design in Poland, Rondo Sztuki, Katowice
- Das Plakat – Hier und Jezt, Kobro Gallery, Łódź
- Good 50×70, International Poster Exhibition, Piazza Cordusio e via Dante, Mediolan, Italy
- Klubowe. Exhibition of Poster, Skwer Gallery, Fabryka Trzciny Art Center, Warsaw
- Agrafa, International Biennial of the Students’ Applied Graphics, Rondo Sztuki, Katowice
Author: Anna Micińska, 26.08.2013, updated April, 2015