A painter and poet, and currently Professor Ordinarius, he graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow, Faculty of Graphic Art in Katowice. He heads the Painting Studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice.

He has had about seventy solo exhibitions in Poland and more than a dozen countries around the world. The most important ones have included the following:

1977 Katowice ZPAP–PSP Gallery, Katowice; 1984 O. N. Gallery, Poznań; 1988 Zapiecek Gallery, Warsaw; 1991 Espace – Temps Gallery, Paris; 1992 F-15 Gallery, Moss, Norway – retrospective; 1995 “Podszepty dzielnicy Sielec” [The Insinuations of the Sielec District] – paintings from the years 1985-1995, BWA Gallery of Contemporary Art, Katowice; 1996 “Podszepty dzielnicy Sielec”, Polish Institute, Vienna; 1997 Miskolci Galeria, Miskolc, Hungary; 1997 Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Saint Etienne, France; 1998 “Lśnienie” [Shine], Studio Art Centre, Warsaw; 2000 “Lśnienie” [Shine], Polish Institute, Rome; 2002 Jacek Rykała, “...Popołudnia niedzielne napięte ciszą pustych ulic i placów...” [Sunday Afternoons Brimming with the Silence of Deserted Streets and Backyards], National Museum in Cracow, Main Building; 2003 Jacek Rykała, “Bilder, Objekte, Collagen”, Stadmuseum Düsseldorf, Germany; 2004 Jacek Rykała, “Arrested Time – painting, graphics”, TW007 Art Gallery, New York, USA; 2006 Jacek Rykała, “Cose poco importanti arrenimente insignificanti”, Galleria d’arte Polacca, Bologna, Italy; 2008 Raj utracony? [Paradise Lost?], selected works 1977-2007, BWA Gallery of Contemporary Art, Katowice; 2010 “Żółte światło pustych miejsc” [Yellow Light of Empty Places], Zamek Sielecki Sosnowiec Art Centre, Sosnowiec.

In 1976-2013, he has taken part in more than 300 art exhibitions in several dozen countries worldwide.