In 1987, I completed my studies in Krakow, Poland at the Academy of Fine Arts with a specialty in painting. This period was not only a time of artistic education but was also a time of observing the socio-political changes in Poland and throughout Eastern Europe. These happenings which preceded the fall of communism gave rise to the development of new alternatives. From the perspective of age I can see the tremendous influence this stormy period of change and the fight for freedom had on me personally.
Paintings for me are a dialogue with memory. I try to reach into the deepest corners of memory to create an atmospheric and convincing expressive voice. I don’t attempt to keep tight rein on my art’s framework but rather touch upon painting, performance and installation. Currently my concentration is solely on painting.
This intimate combination of emotion and memory which accompanies working on a painting is for me, today, the crucial element of creation.
I use organic materials—dust, patina, shellac, etc. Their very nature is awakening and expansive. What interests me is the impact of the physical material with the imagined view.
The abstract character of most of my paintings collides with the desire for the narrative form. I chose a portrait, a personal narrative of an emotional state. My portraits have no desire to beautify reality but rather to sketch memory or psychological states.
Below are my reflections:
THE PAINTING
The painting is a private space where ritual takes place: memory, reflection, emotion. I treat the creative process as a mystery which moves towards melding the sacred with the profane. This process creates a vital existential synthesis which results in authenticity.
INSPIRATION
I’m inspired by the internal landscape—introverted. Through the prism of personal experience, I carry on a dialogue with reality. This is a private space, a designated state in which memory creates a projection of the past but imagination lends color and form. This private space is an inspirational space where waves of present and past collide.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS
I treat the creative process like a laboratory which seeks authentic results. (LPAO). Each painting must have a unique time and needs to maintain the secret of its beginnings. Often I forget how my painting originated technically. I can’t recreate the technical initiative but then I don’t care to repeat this element. What matters is that my painting is colored with the atmosphere and texture of actual emotion. For me each canvas is a “tabula rasa”, a surface which is created new each time and which engenders the search for identity.
THE MATTER OF PAINTING
The matter of painting has to embody the secret of the alchemist. Rather than an affected coquettishness on the painting surface, it’s about creating an intriguing interaction between the painting and the observer.
A new painting poses new requirements for me, one of them being the choice of natural materials. The materials I use have to intrigue and inspire me. They must also be consistent with my imagination. The individualization of each painting matters to me and I try to use known materials as well as unknown ones. And this intriguing blend gives me the feeling of fresh creation.