The Magical World of Roman Golla opens at Irma Freeman Center
Irma Freeman Center for Imagination presents The Magical World of Roman Golla. The exhibition opens on Friday April 1st, 2022 with a reception from 7-10 pm. In addition, there will be an artist talk on Saturday April 2nd at 1pm with guest curator, Robert Nowalk. The show will run through May 6th, 2022. Gallery Hours will be on Saturdays from 2-5 pm and by appointment. Irma Freeman Center for Imagination is inviting groups to book tours to view this fascinating exhibition during its month-long duration at the IFCI.
This exhibition is a visual celebration of the paintings and drawings of Roman Golla, a Polish immigrant. Roman’s work has been seen as an Outsider Artist with a story of innate creativity and visionary passion, loss, and rediscovery. Formerly from Pittsrugh, Robert Nowalk teaches at Culver Academies, a college preparatory boarding school in Culver Indiana. Since 2001, Nowalk has been working with the Academy's Art Collection and Galleries to connect the educational process of learning with real artwork. Culver strives to raise the awareness and importance of artists outside of the institutionalized structures of art, most often deemed as “Outsider”, “Naïve” or “Self-Taught”.
The Magical World of Roman Golla exhibition reveals the complex life of Roman and the influences which led to his career as an artist. Roman Golla was born in the mountains of southern Poland in 1917, which would later be captured in a Nazi round up during World War II. After liberation from a forced labor camp in occupied France in 1945, Roman found passage to a Polish community in Chicago, Illinois in 1951 where the Polish-speaking community helped find him employment and a place to live. An avid chess-player, Roman merited positions in the US Open Chess Tournament in 1953, 1961, 1963 and 1968. It was in 1964, while living contentedly and alone in an apartment in the Avondale neighborhood of Chicago, Roman decided to become an artist.
Initially working with wire, wood, and paint, Roman quickly gravitated toward oil on canvas. In his art, he recalled memories, myths and imagings with a folkloric simplicity and sense of wonder. In 1978, Roman held a one-person exhibition at Humanitas Gallery, which earned him some renown when Chicago Sun Times Art Critic Harold Hayden gave his exhibit a positive review. After Golla’s death in December of 2001, and without a direct heir, the City of Chicago saw to his burial and removed the contents of his apartment. Eventually his personal effects went to a distant relative who then sold the paintings to a prospective gallery owner. After placing the paintings in storage, some twelve years later, with the gallery still unrealized, the buyer posted Roman’s paintings on Craigslist. Featuring a painting of a gypsy violinist, the lot caught the eye of art historian and collector Roert Nowalk. This is where the story begins anew with the collector Roert Nowalk fortuitously answering that ad, and thus relaunching the fantastical work of Roman Golla. The Irma Freeman Center is proud to present this incredible work available for Pittsurghers to view in person!