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Three months had passed since moving here, and I still hadn’t gone to an exhibition in Warsaw, barely made any friends and basically still had no social life. I decided something had to change and what better opportunity for change then to go to Karolina Wojtas’ show at Galeria Naga. I didn’t know what to expect from the show but I was presuming I wouldn’t like it. “I was an only child until I was 13 years old. Whenever my parents asked about siblings, I would tell them 'I will take an ax, kill that kid, and then eat it.' Finally, he appeared and we started our war.” Karolina Wojtas writes in her artist’s statement. In Poland domestic violence is taken much more lightly than in Britain and as a survivor, I was hoping this wasn’t an attempt to normalise it but an interesting exploration of the intense love-hate emotions between siblings. Going was the only way to find out. The gallery was in a flat in a residential area and the show had a very intimate feel to it. In fact everyone apart from me knew each other. The photographs were not simply hung on the walls, but the viewer was forced to interact. The choice was between small mounted versions of photographs in wooden holders or life-size fabric posters on the wall that one had to flip through to get through. An intimate topic the audience was forced to get intimate with.    
And when it came to the official introduction I could see the genuine affection between Karolina and her little brother as she showed him to us on video link over her phone, and they joked about the different ways they would kill each other. Finally. I got it. It was pure fun. Just her and her little brother having fun between themselves as he posed for her carefully composed photographs, exploring different ranges of gruesomeness in a naive child-like manner. Art. Wit. Violence. Humour. I grabbed another beer and got talking to Karolina’s friends. I met different art students and graduates of Poland we got chatting about what to expect. With this overload of information I even started to question my decision to study art in Poland. As I got home two facts remained. I would keep painting. I would check out galeria Naga again.
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The Hogarth exhibition was hosted at Sir John Soane’s museum, so Hogarth’s lively intricate pieces were surrounded by Soane’s wonderful architecture and sketches. Hogarth clearly believed in morality, industriousness and wisdom being rewarded while immorality, idleness and foolishness were punished by ill fate in his paintings. He fails to consider illness, madness and destitute affecting virtuous people or cruelty going unpunished. The central characters of Hogarth’s series are masters of their fate and fully responsible for the fortune or misfortune that befalls them. There is no consideration for society as a whole, only of the moral fabric of the individual. There is no room to repent or change for the better or worse. Intelligence, luck or skill don’t play a role.  Often, such as in the “Four Stages of Cruelty”, it is unclear how the cruel central character meets his bitter fate.  I did however relate to “Humours of an Election”. I don’t think we moved forward much in current times in terms of political scheming.
“One shall no longer paint interiors, people reading and women knitting. They will be people who are alive, who breathe and feel, suffer and love.” Edvard Munch  Being very inspired by Munch’s work, naturally I when I found out he had an exhibition at the British Museum, I had to buy a ticket.  The show compromised mainly of his prints and wasn’t quite what I expected. Documenting not just Munch’s work but also his entire life chronologically, it made me reconsider my romantic view of his bohemian lifestyle. Munch’s “Scream” wasn’t solely inspired by his sister’s struggle with schizophrenia, but also his own struggles.  Young Munch was incredibly idealistic and really gave himself to the ideas that drove Oslo’s social rebels of his time. Later on he withdrew from the circles and gave up heavy drinking. His first love was unrequited and he never settled down happily.  I particularly liked his portraits of friends and the Sick Child. I was slightly disappointed to only see a black and white print of the Scream. I also felt the British Museum could’ve brought more work together for £17.     The Fournier Street exhibition is the second Eleven group show we organised after meeting at the City Lit Developing Arts Practice course.
I showed some new and old work from the States of the Mind series. Other artists showed a variety of conceptual, figurative and abstract work.   At the end of the City Lit, Developing Arts Practice course we organised two exhibitions, the first of which took place in the RK Burt Gallery.
I showed my abstract series and a few new works as part of the exhibition. I also enjoyed creating the private view leaflets. The States of the Mind preview was a great success. A lot of friends came to see the pieces and most importantly Joanna Ciechanowska of the Polish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith got a chance to see my work and we could discuss my exhibiting in their gallery there.  It was a great pleasure to get to share my art with my friends at POSK in Hammersmith. I have been attending the creative meetings for quite some time but always felt too shy to show my work. I finally overcame my fear and was very happy with how everyone received the work. Thank you to Artur Wielguś for making this possible! :)   Absolutely thrilled to have been featured on the www.promoteyourself.news platform. An article about my work is displayed amongst those about other talented artists from across the world.
Click on the link below:  Been super busy with the translation course, which is why it took me so long to write this up.
The October Grid Art Fair was enjoyable and a success. I got to meet lot's of other artists both professional and emerging and talk about how I can start to make a living from art. Here my Gia piece hangs with the other winners of the competition, who got to hang for free. So...I exhibited my work to the public for the first time at the Parallax Art Fair last weekend. It was a great insight and a much anticipated first step into the art world. It was a pleasure to meet all those amazing people and find out how it all works. |
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June 2023
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