Moth IV, Composition with Insect – Contemporary Figurative Oil Painting, Animals2018

Katarzyna Swinarska is a contemporary visual artist working with painting and video which often follows the convention of video performance. She creates also multimedia projects where she combines projection and sound. She is an alumnus of the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk, where she obtained her PhD in 2014, under Prof. Henryk Cześnik as her promoter. She lives and works in Sopot. Her paintings are in private collections in Poland, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United States; in the collection of the State Art Gallery in Sopot and in the collection of Wyspa Art Institute in Gdańsk. She was awarded with first prize at the international competition for experimental films IN OUT Festival in Łaźnia Centre for Contemporary Art (2016), finalist of the II Triennial for Pomeranian Art in Sopot in the category of spatial objects (2016). She was awarded with an Art Bursary of the City of Sopot (2014 and 2016), the Mobility Fund Grant of the City of Gdańsk (2012), an Art Bursary of the City of Gdańsk (2010) and an Art Residency in Switzerland (2012). Somewhat naturally, the subtle cycles of “Heart” and “Skin” transfer us into the realm of feelings, emotions and desires. . The ”Skin” remains devoted to the sense of touch. The sensuality of the cycle is literally rooted in the surface of the paintings. SKIN – meaning an outfit – a costume, but also a thin boundary between somebody/something and the reality. This thin skin of moths, covered with delicate hairs, trembles and gets numb encountering the outside world…The artist polishing and honing the several applied layers of paint, created haptic works, which add to the desire for the direct contact /tempt /seduce. A heart is a heart, whereas the ‘’Heart” of Swinarska elicits ambiguity. The transparent pictures cut through by the energy of light. The energy liberating a female body. Suspended in space, it acquires the mode of peculiar non-existence by the simultaneous emanation of its presence. Aiming at revealing the cognitive roots embedded into the art of Katarzyna Swiniarska, we may refer to the origins of knowledge, as defined by the philosophies of empiricism and sensualism wherein experience comes through sensory impulses. The artist’s creative awareness offers us an unusual opportunity for the sensual encounter with art. Do seize the unique chance and immerse into the creative skill of the artistic language in Swiniarska’s works. By carrying away, the images of the paintings will make up a substance which we crave so much and seemingly aspire to, so as to enable us to see, hear and feel more, yet without our sensitivity being mutilated by doctrines/ideas.