Intuitive Reminiscence – in the beginning, women as sun

Pilipczuk Gallery are thrilled to represent the duo-exhibition by artists Ewelina Skowronska (PL/JPN) and Lia Kimura (JPN/PL) titled Intuitive Reminiscence – in the beginning, women as sun. Everyone is welcome to join us for the opening on the 24th of February 5-7PM. For the exhibition the artists will show works that expands each artist’s individual preoccupation with distant memories, which come manifested through the memory of the body and sensual awarness.

Exhibition text by Paulina Swierczynska-Brzezinska

 Human body – the most popular motif in fine arts – has been for centuries accompanied by numerous reflections on the physical and mental spheres, identity and otherness, as well as participation and separateness. An extremely important issue for a creative individual is the ability to define one’s identity – own body, a strong “I” voice, which allows to identify with certain groups and stand up to contradictory ideas. The female body, for obvious reasons, most often becomes entangled in social and political contexts. Therefore, there is no better tool for expressing the strong voice of female artists than their own bodies perceived on the one hand as something individual, on the other hand as a general artistic form to which various fields of art (not necessarily practiced by women) have claimed rights over the centuries. Using the body as an artistic tool, artists show that femininity can be expressed in multiple forms and go beyond the usual patterns.

Ewelina Skowronska’s painting is art that undoubtedly derives from the experience of one’s own gender. It is a skillfully conducted, mature artistic statement that does not lose the essential element of femininity. The latest series presented at the exhibition is strongly related to the concept of organic abstraction, which stems from earlier theoretical assumptions focused on the corporeality. The artist reaches for the language of abstraction, using the aesthetics of a body fragment subjected to a strong synthesis. Nature, which is definitely an inspiration for this series, is used as template for shapes. Same as the female body, it becomes a source for synthetic forms. Multiplied fragments are reproduced not only within a specific work, but also within the entire series, creating a coherent, sensual and ephemeral painterly reflection, already initiated in earlier realizations. The form itself is extremely important here. The evolution of created shapes is directly related to the subject of corporeality, its place and the role it plays in everyday life.

Lia Kimura reaches for fragments of more or less literal images in her paintings. The main focus of her art is on the inner layer. Her characteristic painting style is rapidly moving away from figurative art towards abstract formal assumptions. Legible, precisely rendered details of the human body are deformed to such an extent that individual elements cannot be properly identified. The consolidation of the body and the background means that the viewer is only able to define the outline of a female figure emerging from the darkness, stripped of apparent beauty. The background, which is also a flat patch, becomes an open and mysterious space. There are no signs of presence at a specific time and place. The foreground becomes equally important, giving the impression of a filter, a blurred window through which the viewer observes the image. The figure is somehow suspended in space, which becomes its integral part. The artist, based very strongly on her personal experiences, refers to a general reflection centered around feelings and emotions.

Lia Kimura, Delusion, 2022, Oil on canvas, 120 x 100 cm