9 September 2025
Nestled in the scenic foothills of the Beskids, the town of Wisła has long been a gathering place for culture and creativity — and in August 2025, it became host to an exhibition that offered a truly unique perspective on artistic expression. The Polish publisher presented an impressive group exhibition at the renowned Beskiden Museum, under a title that captured its very essence: "Art from the Perspective of the Hands."
The irony embedded in that title was, of course, entirely intentional — and deeply moving. Every one of the 35 works on display had been created not by hand, but by artists painting with their mouth or foot. In naming the exhibition as they did, the organisers invited visitors to reconsider, quite literally, what it means to create "by hand" — and to recognise the extraordinary skill, patience, and artistry involved in producing work of such quality through entirely different means.
Thirty-Five Works, Five Remarkable Artists
Running from 6 to 31 August 2025, the exhibition drew art enthusiasts and visitors from across the region, all eager to experience firsthand the depth and diversity of talent within Poland's mouth and foot painting community. The exhibition brought together the work of five artists, each representing a different stage of the community's artistic development:
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Stanisław Kmiecik – Full Member
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Walery Siejtbatałow – Associate Member
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Mikołaj Kastelik – Scholarship Holder
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Martyna Gruca – Scholarship Holder
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Bartosz Ostałowski – Scholarship Holder
This particular mix of membership levels — from an established Full Member to promising Scholarship Holders just beginning to build their artistic careers — gave the exhibition a compelling sense of continuity and progression. Visitors moving through the Beskiden Museum's halls encountered not only a showcase of finished artwork, but, in effect, a living portrait of the journey each mouth and foot painting artist travels: from early promise, through associate recognition, to the full artistic maturity represented by decades of dedicated practice.
A Vernissage to Remember
The exhibition's opening evening, held on 6 August 2025, proved to be an undisputed highlight of the entire month-long show. Rather than presenting a static collection of paintings, the organisers offered visitors something far more immersive: a live painting demonstration, in which guests had the rare opportunity to watch the artists at work and experience their creative process unfolding firsthand.
For many attendees, this was likely the first time they had ever witnessed an artist painting with their mouth or foot in person, rather than simply viewing a completed canvas. The experience of watching brush meet canvas — guided not by hand but by extraordinary control, focus, and years of practised skill — left a powerful impression on the assembled crowd. Stanisław Kmiecik, Walery Siejtbatałow, Mikołaj Kastelik, Martyna Gruca, and Bartosz Ostałowski each displayed their exceptional talents during the demonstration, captivating the audience with a combination of technical precision and evident passion for their craft.
Bridging the Gap Between Artist and Audience
What made this vernissage particularly special was the direct connection it created between the artists and their audience. Rather than remaining anonymous names beside framed paintings, Kmiecik, Siejtbatałow, Kastelik, Gruca, and Ostałowski became, for one evening, living presences — artists whom visitors could watch, admire, and perhaps even speak with directly. This kind of firsthand encounter does something that a painting alone, however beautiful, cannot always achieve: it transforms admiration for the finished artwork into a deeper understanding of, and respect for, the process and person behind it.
Given the setting — the well-regarded Beskiden Museum, a venue already known throughout the region for its cultural significance — the exhibition also carried an implicit statement about the standing of mouth and foot painting artists within the broader Polish art world. To be presented within such a respected institution affirmed, once again, that the artistic achievements of these painters deserve to be evaluated not through the lens of disability, but purely based on the artistic quality and skill their work displays — and by that measure, the exhibition left little room for doubt.
A Month of Discovery
Over the course of its nearly four-week run, "Art from the Perspective of the Hands" gave the people of Wisła and visitors from across the region a sustained opportunity to engage with the exhibition, many likely returning more than once to revisit particular favourites among the 35 works on display. The exhibition's extended run allowed word to spread organically throughout the community, drawing a steady stream of visitors eager to experience an exhibition that had clearly resonated deeply with those who attended its opening.
A Fitting Tribute to Talent and Tenacity
As the exhibition drew to its close at the end of August, it left behind more than an impressive body of work on display. It left a renewed regional appreciation for the depth of talent within Poland's mouth and foot painting community, and a memorable reminder — embodied in its very title — that the hands are not the only instrument through which great art can be made.
For Stanisław Kmiecik, Walery Siejtbatałow, Mikołaj Kastelik, Martyna Gruca, and Bartosz Ostałowski, the Beskiden Museum exhibition offered a valuable platform to share their work with a wider audience, to connect directly with admirers of their art, and to demonstrate, once again, that artistic excellence is defined not by the tools an artist uses, but by the vision, dedication, and skill they bring to every piece they create.
Source: VDMFK News