A few words about my work:
Nothing is zero-one
Pablo Picasso once said that “Painting is another way to keep a diary. Art washes away the dust of everyday life from the soul”. [1]
My painting is very personal. It focuses mainly on the emotional aspect, a bit shamanic, spiritual and mystical. It gives a glimpse into the duality of the world; not a zero-one, but one in which everything flows into everything. What from the human body into what from nature, male into female, sadness into joy, loneliness into love, trauma into positive post-traumatic development. The spaces of the body and nature symbolize the spiritual spheres. The energetic connections of bonds, which have been included in my paintings with the help of a brush and paint, are very important here. The whole story revolves around positive post-traumatic growth.
My main inspiration is the human psyche and the whole range of constantly changing emotional states. The body became the starting point for internal content. I believe that our emotions accumulate in it, as evidenced by, among others, somatic pain, which is caused by strong stress and negative external stimuli. On the other hand, when we are calm, the body tunes in to our emotions, relaxing. Then we breathe slowly, deeply, without undue haste.
For me, art is a subjective statement filtered through my own way of perceiving the world around us. When creating images, I try to leave them unsaid, so that the viewer can interpret these works in their own individual way. The titles are only intended to direct the recipient, but they are not the final answer to the issues I raise.
Flora Botanica
Painting triptych entitled “Flora Botanica” was created at the turn of 2021 – 2022.
It was made in the technique: acrylic, oil on canvas. Each painting has dimensions: 100 x 80 cm, which in its entirety creates a composition with dimensions: 100 x 240 cm.
The paintings tell about positive post-traumatic development. The interiors of each of the works contain corporeality structures, expressed by means of a composition composed of all kinds of vegetation, which, both in the spiritual – mystical and physical – real world, expresses three painting stories that are built using hidden symbols: plants, insects, shapes. The main, dominant color in each of the paintings plays an important role here, because it is it that gives meaning to the entire presentation.
First work, from left to right “Flora Botanica”, with a narrow, green color range, symbolizes healing and hope. This color is created by combining yellow and blue. It is associated with life-giving energy, nature, e.g. greenery reborn in spring after a white, frosty winter. Thus, this color becomes a symbol of life, youth and positive energy. The four-leaf clover in nature symbolizes good luck. I believe that green regenerates, balances and calms the vital forces. This color has a healing effect, soothing the eyesight. In her surroundings, we feel calm and more optimistic than usual about life. I also believe that the green color increases our sensitivity and makes us reflect on topics that we do not pay attention to on a daily basis, busy in the whirlwind of work, trying to find our way on this chaotic planet, full of challenges and unexpected events, technologically rushing forward. Forced to find themselves in the cacophony of sounds on the streets: car horns, passers-by talking on their cell phones in the lanes, phones ringing and vibrating at every step, staring at the bright lights beating from the screens of modern smartphones. I believe that a picture like “Flora Botanica” gives space to every recipient for a moment of rest, relaxation, rest from too much information that flows into our heads. From my autopsy, I’ve learned that more isn’t always better. It often turns out that less is more. That is why I made a conscious decision to narrow down the color range, from darker, more intense green, to which I used more navy blue paint, to delicate shades, giving the impression of yellow streaks of light, shimmering between dark green structures, painted with certain brush strokes, which create an open composition , thus suggesting that our body connects with the surrounding nature.
I also believe that green is a color that increases our sensitivity and balances the flow of energy in the body. This is evidenced by the fact that often, when we are stressed, we go for a walk to a nearby park or forest to breathe fresh air. The soothing influence of nature helps us gather our thoughts. After such a walk, we return to continue our work in full harmony, with open heads, because the nervous system has been calmed down and our blood pressure has decreased. Then we become open to new possibilities that we did not notice before. In the Bible, green is the color of the Garden of the Lord.
Another, middle painting with orange and cream colors entitled “In lumine soli” (from Latin. In the light of the sun) also presents corporeality structures intertwined with the nature that surrounds us. When we look closely, we can see in this work emerging from intensely orange structures: a butterfly, a snail, a rowan tree, a scorpion symbolizing the passing of time, and even flower petals or leaves. The whole composition is open.
Orange is obtained by mixing yellow and red. Here, the shade I used is subdued, reminiscent of calmness. However, it is known for its stimulating effect on the human mind, because it adds positive, creative energy. The aim of the painting is to stimulate the viewer’s creative thinking. Seeing what is invisible at first glance. The composition forces you to contemplate it, because the viewer is not able to notice all the nuances superficially.
The third and last painting in the series “In sole” (Latin in the sun), filled with the most intense shades – red), which intertwines with yellow shimmering between them, reminiscent of warm sunlight. The color red is primarily associated with passionate love. It also has many more meanings. It is the color of the basic human chakra, the color of strength, bravery, fortitude. With too much intensity, it can cause aggression, chaos, so I decided to intertwine red structures with yellow ones, which symbolize light, both physical – sunlight and spiritual – knowledge. Yellow is the color of the highest values, and they are different for each of us, so I leave the rest of the argument about this triptych for reflection…
The metamorphism of the human body
My visions of corporeality on canvases contain ideas that say that the essence of every human being is metamorphism and the pursuit of change. I believe that the boundaries between what is material and spiritual remain fluid and can arise as a result of transformation.
In my visions, I do not reserve subjectivity only for man and his body, but also for nature, all kinds of vegetation, sunlight and spiritual energy flowing from the universe around us. Using paint, I create stories about various structures. I believe that our bodies have an infinite capacity to change and take on ever newer shapes.
When painting, I rely on experienced situations and emotions known from the autopsy. However, I urge the recipients to a separate interpretation of the presented structures. What I care most about is that the viewer can see their own story in the intricate story contained on the canvas. In my opinion, our body is in a constant process of symbiotic becoming and co-evolution.
Catching in flowers
Oil painting on canvas, one and a half meters by one meter, entitled The Catcher in Flowers tells a story about positive post-traumatic growth. In the work, you can see male hands squeezing the breasts in a dominant, oppressive way, and the hands and neck of a woman who cannot break free from this embrace, remaining suffocated. Bodies intertwine with nature, which suggests that the presented event is a memory that is hidden in the wild thicket of our interior and suggests that after many emotional storms, ups and downs, this negative event was worked through thanks to the knowledge of psychology and spirituality.
The picture tells, above all, that time heals all wounds. The most difficult memories can be wrapped up and silenced with rebuilt, positive thoughts. Orange – reds have been used here on purpose. These colors are meant to symbolize life forces: harm, aggression transformed into love, passion, creativity, the fiery flame of survival. Red also symbolizes the discovery of the spiritual strength present in ourselves, inside our brave hearts. The yellow shimmering between these shades is to symbolize light, positive emotions, hope for a better tomorrow. This color, like the rays of the sun, falls into the soul and illuminates our thoughts, making us optimistic, giving us comfort, a kind of warmth in moments of darkness and doubt.
You are stronger than you think
The diptych from the series “You are stronger than you think” tells the story of a broken, huddled woman who, when the viewer squints, resembles a skull with the arrangement of her body. However, it is covered with flower petals and all kinds of vegetation. The background in one of the paintings are red, fiery flames, which symbolizes rebirth, a kind of resurrection from depression into a healthy psyche, from a tormented body into a strong, independent person. In the second image, the background is green, which means rebirth and an increase in vitality. This color also says that we are one with nature. It makes us happy, giving us hope for a better tomorrow.
Tangled
Painting series entitled “Tangled” consists of two large-format canvases measuring 150 x 90 cm and 150 x 100 cm. It shows the intertwined legs of two people in love with each other, in this particular case the legs of a man – my husband and a woman – mine are shown. In the first picture from the left, the lovers lie in thick, wild grass, while in the next picture they are shown lying in wildflowers, bathed in the light of intense summer sunlight. The whole event takes place at the turn of July and August 2022.
Why then? Well, in August 2022 we got married. The paintings are a painterly expression of our intense love, which we both believe is part of the natural world. The paintings tell about love, passion, synergy and harmony that we gain by getting to know our other part of the soul, like two halves of the same apple.
All my life
In conclusion, I would like to describe one of the three collage-created paintings, which is a painting installation. This painting is entitled “My whole life” and has dimensions: 160 x 120 cm. It’ s structure also brings to mind corporeality intertwined with nature, but the process of creating this work was much more complicated than the previously described paintings.
First, I stretched the raw canvas on the slats, then primed with gelatin, then with acrylic paint. I additionally painted the primed fragments of canvases in colors such as: intense reds, oranges, greens, browns, less often navy blues, sometimes whites. Then I tore these paintings into small, irregularly shaped pieces, and then gradually glued them together, consciously creating a composition both well thought out in terms of color and form, literally creating a picture built of structures of painted pieces of canvas.
The work carries a deep message about positive pro-traumatic development. The picture even screams to the viewer that everything can be grasped, that despite the ups and downs, it will be possible to sort it out somehow. Even if we are given to live in chaos, from this multitude of thoughts, feelings, events, as well as better and worse moments, you can create something special if you work hard for it. In this collage painting installation, I have included the story of my whole life, and although it is easy to get lost in the colorful cacophony, which at first strikes the eye with its intensity of colors, when we pay a little more attention to this work and look closely, we can see the depth of the message and fully well-thought-out three-dimensional painting procedure.
My mission
The main goal in my work is to search for a new form of representation in showing the structure of the body. The structures of corporeality are emotional and energetic forms that intertwine with the world around us, constituting a unity with it. Spirituality is very important to me. I believe that what is outside affects the inside, and our emotions directly affect the physical and mental health of our body. In addition, the images are a metaphorical story about the positive post-traumatic development that I experienced firsthand. With the development of my soul, my painting has undergone a significant transformation.
I want my work to encourage reflection on the emotions that accumulate in the body and human existence, which is inseparably connected with the entire color palette of emotions.
Blue is also one of the most spiritual colors in our lives. It evokes the elements of nature, such as air and water. It brings peace, freshness and dynamism to our mind, bringing with it new, creative inspirations.
In my works, I tell about what is honest, authentic, what I experienced firsthand, about the trauma I came out of. I honestly talk about what I think and feel and how I perceive the reality that surrounds us. I’m not pretending.
1 Pablo Picasso, https://abaren.pl/pablo-picasso-cytaty.php (Accessed 15.04.2021r.)