IDENTITY – PERFECT FOLK STRIPES AND ERASING THEM
Thinking a lot about my Polish heritage and my current situation getting British citizenship. Feeling the lines of where I actually come from blurring slightly after over 20 years of not actually living in Poland, but traveling between Canada, US, Europe and Asia and living semi-permanently in London for the past 15 years. I am trying to overcome my fear of painting: trying something new not knowing where it will take me. The polish folk stripes symbolize the old, the one I used to know and yearn for while living abroad. The oil b&w body feel like the transition between drawing and painting and simultaneously entering the phase of dual citizenship.
Part 2 Identity & Duality
Continuous analysis of duality: the duality of identity, of identifying with two diametrically different places at the same time. The duality of belonging. Another one: an artist and a mother. These two could not be more extreme, as the iconic polish actress and a Theatre Director, Krystyna Janda once said: “the kids don’t care that their mother is an artist who’s trying to change the world, they want to know what’s for dinner tonight.”
The mental awareness duality: between depression and euphoria — which one do I choose today?
I feel like this list could go on forever.
So the idea behind this painting is to show the duality through different painting techniques. The reclining nude body with spontaneous, uncontrollable brush strokes, in oil paints — a new medium for me — and colours limited to grayscale. Contrasting that with acrylic markers, almost like drawing, much easier to control, in a pattern of very calculated stripes made with masking tape.
What’s the result going to be?