ARCHIVE EXHIBITION

Classic landscape – paintings on silk./ Joanna Stasiak

Artist:Joanna Stasiak

Venue: Nowy Świat 53

Dates: 13.05 - 17.06.2016

Curator: Magdalena Durda-Dmitruk

Joanna Stasiak graduated from the Arts Department at the University of Mikołaj Kopernik in Toruń in 1989 from the Janusz Kaczmarski's Workshop. Postgraduate studies at The Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art in Oxford in 1991. Since 2006 she's been working at Maria Grzegorzewska's Academy at The Art Education Institute. From 2006 to 2008 and 2010-2012 she was the head of the Institute. Joanna Stasiak has had many individual exhibitions in Poland and abroad, as well as participating in many collective exhibitions. She is the owner of a private gallety, In Spe..

Painting on silk is an old and demanding technique, which became a new workshop challenge for Joanna Stasiak during her artistic trip through India more than 4 years ago. Her first works on silk were made on the roofs in New Delhi, the following ones in her Warsaw studio. She analyzes issues that have been always her main interest, form and the meaning. The themes are very traditional: landscape, still life, genre scenes. They are alll connected to intellectual reflection about the world, human fate, the passing of time. Fantastic architecture is also a recurring theme in Stasiak's works. Monumental silk compositions are repeatedly closed within a frame – the viewer looks through an oculus, a semicircular arcade or a classical bordure. Fabrics are filled with vibrating lustrous colors and diverse tones. The composition is well thought out. Preceded with a sketch, it shows a masterly use of alla prima technique. Her paintings are simple with clear compositions, sometimes even cold. Joanna Stasiak now creates works on silk just as she did when she worked on canvas – works that are connected to traditional art masters like Nicolas Poussin, Piero della Francesca or her mentor Professor Janusz Kaczmarski.

Magdalena Durda-Dmitruk