Barbara Palka Winek
Biography
Studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow at the Faculty of Painting in the studios of professors: Szancenbach, Brzozowski and Buczek. Diploma in 1983. Her painting is characterized by searching and experimenting with form and painting matter of the picture. It is important to paint technology improved and enriched by own experience, and even lead to the development of its own technology. She works in cycles
that complement each other and, as a result, create a full scale of her feelings and experiences. Lives and works in Krakow, Poland.
Major exhibitions:
She exhibited several times in Paris, London and New York, in Manhattan (Agora Gallery,
Ward-Nasse Gallery, Brodway Gallery, NY Art Fair). She took part in the Florence Biennale, London Biennale, and Tokyo Biennale.
Major awards:
Artis Laudabilis - The Europa Authentica Cultural Organization, Budapest, 2009, Oscar della Cultura - Florence, 2014, Marco Polo International
Prize - Venice, 2015, Roma Imperiale International Prize - Rome, 2015, Sandro Botticelli Prize - Florence, 2015, Primo Delle Arti
"Donato Bramante" - Rome, 2015, Laudato Magister Honoriscausa Della Biennale Internazionale D'Arte "Barocco Slaention - Accademia Italoa In Arte Nel Mondo,
Brindisi, 2020.
Artist Statement
I think that each painting should make an impression. The idea of the painting is important. I want to show the transience of a moment closed in the plane of color and penetrating the matter through light. I try to show transcendence. I was done in cycles - Screens, Woman - Imago, Stream of time. The topics are closed in cycles that I mentioned earlier, and Obsessions and Archetypes. They are all current, they are not finished and new paintings are created in each of these cycles. The woman was always the dominant topic. A sensual, reflexive or obsessive woman. A woman - a flower or a woman's metamorphosis. Over the years, this subject has undergone numerous transformations - female obsessions, sensuality, women flowers, women imago, archetypes of a woman. I paint with oil and acrylic paints. For a long time I was looking for a transparent medium that would allow me to show the penetration of planes. A soft, transparent medium resembling a plasma. After many years of work, it seems that I have achieved the goal - the fluidity and softness of biological forms combined with a hard, massively marked plane - the imagination of non-being (nonentity).
What first prompted you to think of becoming an artist?
My father, the artist and painter Witold Palka, had a huge influence on me. He was a very strong personality and passionate about painting. From an early age, I lived in the environment of art and among artists - painters and sculptors. It was an artistic bohemia that my father created as a very social person. I enjoyed this life, different from what I saw in my friends' homes. I listened to conversations and sometimes heated discussions about art and painting. Gradually, it became more and more important to me, and finally I wanted to be part of that life - an unconventional life. I decided to study painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. And this is how my artistic path began.
What kind of an artist do you ultimately see yourself?
I'm not a show-woman artist. This is not my style. I am very interested in politics and social affairs on a daily basis. now, I want to emphasize it, I am ashamed of what is currently happening in my country. But these things don't touch my art. I am not a narrative artist. I am a reflective artist with a tendency to meditate on the moment. An artist who tries to find an answer to the mystery of life in his paintings.
What are you hoping to communicate to the viewer through your work?
I would like my paintings to bring relief to those who look at them. That they would be a link between everyday life and what is elusive, invisible, ephemeral, transient and immaterial for us. This moment is important. The moment as a phenomenon closed in the frame.
Can you explain the process of creating your work?
I cannot imagine my painting without listening to music. I love music. When I start a new painting, I listen to strong, loud rock music. Gradually, in the next stages of work, this music is getting softer, more delicate and at the end it is classical music.
A controlled case and an event are very important in my work. It is exciting for me when a new phenomenon emerges from beneath several layers of paint and the medium. My creation process takes a long time. Beginning with the first impulse, association, through decisions about which medium is most appropriate to illustrate my idea and building compositions, forms and surfaces. The picture should be impressive, it shouldn't be bland. The viewer may experience all sorts of sensations. He can perceive the decorativeness or anti-aesthetics of painting. Hidden philosophical message, transcendence, or minimalism of the means used. For me, a painting should have a hidden secret which may consist of color, light, composition. One-off unique frame as a phenomenon. I am not interested in narrative and illustrative character. I never duplicate the same frame. If I repeat certain compositions, it is only to show them differently. I don't like horror and destruction in the picture. I am closer to showing positive emotions. My dream would be if the viewer could contemplate my painting by meditation.
What is your favourite part of the creative process?
At the beginning of my creative path, I liked the initial stage of work the most. Starting a new painting. The spontaneous transmission of my emotions. Now I like all stages of creating a painting. Each of them has its own specificity and the last strokes of the brush are like the last gestures of the conductor before the end of the piece and the silence of the orchestra.
Can you give us an insight into current projects and inspiration, or what we can look forward to from you in the near future?
I am going to continue all my painting series: Screens, Imago, Obsessions, Archetypes and Stream of Time.
I do not limit myself to the methods of painting worked out so far. I am experimenting all the time, looking for new media and means of expression. I paint very large pictures and smaller ones. Each surface of the canvas is a challenge. It inspires me.
Over the past year and a half, life has surprised us so much that it has surpassed all life scenarios. I experienced the most dramatic loss.
Maybe in this new reality, despite adversities, something new will inspire me and a new series of paintings will arise.
Website: www.palkawinek.art.pl
