Katarzyna Gajewska

My painting process is something between my dreams and documentation. My art is situated in the middle;  not in the realistic and not in the abstract, in popular meaning.

I am looking for human simplicity and complexity in the same way.

I am trying to catch the casual feelings, naked and defenceless in their realism, and then with understanding and patience I start to build portraits.

My portraits are like multilayered cocoons, profoundly intimate, sexual or innocent. Psychological topography; still glances, crucial in their expression are uncovered in layers of my paint. Bold, rich and dramatic faces are like language; pulsing and inspiring. My portraits are my form of communication. For me no subject is sacred. The role of provocative feelings, persuasion, as well as the human impulse to beautify compels my works of art.

I don’t use any tools besides my hands – to be closer. I could say that my art is a first hand emotion – and that’s why I am painting only with my hands. It allows me to make close ups much deeper than they really are. I love using extreme zooming in – in life and in my paintings. My inspirations are deeply rooted in myself. I’m trying to search for inspiration every day: To reach for the deep feelings hidden below the surface of appearances, to pull them out from behind the window pane. It is a permanent record of fleeting sensations. This release from naturalism is a real struggle between the forces of creation and destruction.

Artists website: www.katarinagajewska.com

Julita Jaroszuk

Julita Jaroszuk was born on March 9, 1978, in Dabrowa Bialostocka. She lived in Michalowo (Podlaskie voivodship), and now she lives in Dublin. In 1998 she finished the National High School of Fine Arts in Suprasl. She has been studying in the Iconography Studium in Bielsk Podlaski for one year. In 2006 she graduated in Interior Architecture at the Architectural Department, Bialystok Technical University.

She does a variety of art forms: painting, drawing, tissue arts, tissue-sculpture, collage, utilitarian forms slight, interior architecture as well as poetry and music.

Since her early childhood she has been surrounded by art. Music blends in with fine arts altogether. Her works are strongly influenced by iconography, she states that a year of studying in the Iconography Studium was very benefitial to her. Colours and their meaning, the language of gesture, have some vital messages to us, we can find these in her works. Just like Jerzy Nowosielski, who is an example for her, she is searching for some common elements in icon art and secular painting. - 'I'm most interested in subjects related to man. Symbols, content, as well as the character of painting, weaving, collage, etc. Watching the world I live in, its nature, its advantages and disadvantages, let me draw some conclusions. This makes me work.'

She sang in the JJ Band for half a year, she also took part in many singing poetry contests. In the First Singing Poetry Festival of Podlasie "Bransk 2000" Julita got 2nd place, she also had many distinctions: taking part in the 5th Close Meetings with Singing Poetry "Kuznia 2001", taking part in the 6th meeting with Singing Poetry "Autumn Moods Lapy 2002".

'I can't possibly imagine myself choosing a form of art to devote myself to exclusively. It would mean giving up things I love. And I love music as much as fine arts.' . It is no doubt that poetry is a vital element in her life. 'It complements my personality, my sensitivity to the beauty of the world, of the soul, of other people.' 'As for my literary works,' Julita carries on, 'I present it in two ways, publishing it, and on stage. My poems were printed in many magazines. I present them together with music as well. I can stand critics, everything I did has been welcomed so far.'

Her friends say that it is very unlikely to meet such a multi-talented person while being so gentle and humble as well. 'We sometimes say that Julek (that is what we call her) was born in the wrong time. She loves beautiful dresses, with golden thread if possible, she adores hats, and she always wears something interesting. If you happen to look for some old clothes, just look to her wardrobe, she collects those kinds of things, it's one of her weaknesses, she is a woman all in all.

Artists website: www.julitajaroszuk.yoyo.pl

Katarzyna Tuzel-Nabzdyk

Born in Pozna, Poland, artist Katarzyna Tuzel-Nabzdyk moved to Ireland three years ago. Commenting on her work, Katarzyna states: “I treat the painting as a fluid concept – it is a permeation of drawing, texture, of space installation, glass etc.), either on a plain and in the space. I am interested at the texture and its extraction by means of light. My painting follows the nature and it is from the nature that abstraction emerges. I attach big importance to the lines (vertical, horizontal) that constitute the given situation. The compositions do not close themselves within the picture frames but are continued in the space. My recent works are inspired by the landscape of Ireland.

Marta Wakula-Mac

Marta Wakula–Mac graduated from the Institute of Art in Cracow (completing her diploma thesis in the studio of one of the most famous Polish artists – Professor Jerzy Jędrysiak). Marta has had a couple of significant solo exhibitions in her artistic career and is a brave artist.

In her unique way – once grotesque, other times very surrealistic she attempts to describe her apprehensions. When Marta decided to move to Ireland she already had her own style. (Winston Churchill once said that the Polish are a bit like the Irish, but a bit more…).
Marta has brought with her vast experiences, both from the professional perspective as well as from discussions on spiritual existence – omnipresent in Polish art for hundreds of years.

Marta would not be the artist she is today without the important elements of Polish art, without the affirmation of her rich, personal experiences. Neither would her art exist without Cracow – a very special place on the map of the world, where life is unique.

Marta is interested in the relationship between word and imagery (the Apocalypse) - she is doing illustrations for the book “Gomorrah” by Susan Knight. Driven by self-exploration and discovering the world around her, the artist is constantly experimenting, trying to describe the Universe by drawing it, carving it or by etching it. Marta has a very strong artistic personality. She is living her artistic life by continually exploring it.

Linocut is her sheer passion. Extremely determined, she is adding more works of art to her existing collection – they are an outcome of her constant artistic exploration and her life experiences. She is searching for signs and symbols unique for her.

The ultimate goal of her art is to express what cannot be expressed, the non-existent, to refer to the ordinary and mystical in a contemporary life.

Artists Website: www.martawakulamac.com