Karina Antonczak

Artist Statement:

Kariko ono_Karina Antonczak. At present I live and work in Warsaw. I am a painter, architect, a woman and a mother. In my portfolio I present to you my world dating from my son's birth. This was a time when I abandoned autocad lines to fulfill my potential in art; I visualise monotonic landscapes, stripped of dominant elements, which are nostalgic for simplicity, purity and clarity of divisions. I work on space visualisation of personal, therapeutic value and imagine nature for my imagination's sake: to see the horizon and great, empty space. My paintings are open, symmetric compositions which are interrupted by one particular detail. They are afterimages with a taste of melancholy and a sentimentality about the greatness of nature. I try to create my own record through which I can transfer energy, similar to that one of quiet time near the surface of a lake. This is the always present theme in my art, as a way of an active relaxation, regeneration; a chorus between verses. I do not paint from nature, I create an image from a bank of memories and from there they go on to abstraction. I show a vision of a constructed world with my own words. To me, the relation between colours, lines, their weight, tensions and the forces ruling the composition are important. My paintings are an analysis of the relationships between space, mass, colour, surface and force.

Education:

The Jan Malczewski Plastic Arts High School in Czestochowa
Drawing lessons by Barbara and Wiktor Zin.
The Department of Architecture at the Krakow University of Technology
The Department of Architecture at the Wroclaw University of Technology
Exhibitions
2000 - collective displays at the Center for Artistic Endeavors in Cz?stochowa.
2007 - Co-authoring the international project titled Wroc?aw O?bin. Identity, a site-specific exhibition held at the home of Edyta Stein in Wroc?aw.
2007 - Participation in the PQ International Biennale of Set Design in Prague
2007 - Participation in the SURVIVAL Review of Young Art in Extreme Conditions
2010 - Co-authoring the DREAMSCAPE project at the Halogaleria in Olsztyn, a site-specific display
2011 - The 1st honourable mention in the competition for the temporary Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw
2012 - Participation in the artistic event billed as La Branderie de l'art in France
2012/2013 - Participation in exhibitions and auctions of Young Art at the DNA Gallery in Wroc?aw, Polswissart and SDA galleries in Warsaw.

Artistic Influences:

I was always a painter and I became an architect somewhere along the way! I was an immature, unconscious painter at the High School of Fine Arts; studying architecture and my subsequent career an architect shaped me and my personality. It gave me the courage to live according to my nature.

Because of my studies, I have created my own style of work, which is important in painting, where there are no basic rules. This is one of the things that attracted me to painting, that I can decide on my own what, when and how to do. I decide when the painting is finished and how long I work on it. I alone choose the subject and the way to treat it. The most important aspect is that the process brings me happiness.

Tags:

abstract landscape, abstract cityscape, abstract, landscape, oil painting, large oil painting