Thoughts after plen air in Iława, September 2020
Usually I organize painting trips by myself, and travel alone. It is a distinction for me, when I am invited and someone selects artists to create working conditions for them.
Titles
Sometimes I find them in fragments of a book or a poem, an utterance overheard, or from a homily. I listen carefully to what children say. Titles are hidden in sayings, single nouns, holiday names or traditions, and places. Sometimes they are ready-made phrases, sometimes in need of leavening. Verbalised worlds cling to me and do not leave until I've painted them.
In the studio
In the open air, I sketch in order to preserve the atmosphere, composition, colours, and essence of a given place. In the studio, I never use photographs of a place, nor do I try to recall the specifics of the landscape. I only refer to what is on the canvas. Sometimes it is a few lines, a patch, a colour, or a composition sketch; sometimes it is a nearly-finished painting.
Plein air painting
I attach great importance to the process of seeking out, analysing and drawing on direct inspiration when plein air painting. I surrender my senses to the landscape I am presenting, when the aura truly moves me. I look for situations with an aura shaped by nature, place and culture. I seek inspiration and follow it.
The Holiday Series
2014 - .
The series is comprised of paintings presenting religious and secular celebrations, which inspire me as sociological phenomena. The human form, juxtaposed with landscapes, takes on a leading role in the series.
The series results from observations on what remains after celebrations -- peoples' emotions and changes in the landscape just after the big day, or a significant moment.
Master's Degree project at the Department of Sculpture, The Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Poland - June 2019
It took nearly three years to complete the "Orchard" project, which resulted in two works: graphic and sculptural installations. They explore the subject of the displacement of the Lemkos people, and document the changing landscape. The first stages of the works were realized in villages in the Low Beskids, and subsequently the effects were recreated and reduced to a minimalist expression in the installation.
"To the North" exhibition
The "North" exhibition is a story on canvas about experiencing a journey into the raw northern landscape. I spent time from June to September 2018 in northern Canada and Alaska, creating landscape afterimages. The effects of my work in the open air can be seen at Defabryka, in Warsaw.
International Plein Air Painting - "Opole Impressions"
10 full days of work, while discovering the Opole region. The January weather was not indulgent, but I got in the car every day and set out to discover good things in the area.
Plein air paintings from Canada and Alaska 2018 have arrived at the studio in Podkowa Leśna
From June to September, 2018, I had the opportunity to record raw northern landscapes on canvas, over the 20,000 kilometers from Vancouver through the Yukon. We drove through the Northwest Territories in Alaska in a vehicle which we transformed into a painting studio. While working in plein air, I gave myself over to creating the landscapes and the stories that I felt were the most unique to the wild north.
Projekt SAD - The ORCHARD roots project
Board, 3.5 x 3.5 x 0.5 meters 2018 - 2019
Displaced Lemkos Village, Regietów Górny, The Low Beskids
The installation results from operations carried out in the displaced Lemkos village of Regietów Górny. I unearthed, documented and reburied the root system of a dying fruit tree - a plum. It grew on the site of what was once a farm, and was part of a household's orchard. The roots and netting presented are a re-creation and interpretation of discovery, in a changing landscape.
More about project: here