BETTER BITTER
MAGDALENA KARPIŃSKA
Hundred years ago, in 1918, after 123 years of being torn apart, Poland reclaimed its independence and established its sovereignty. Adequately to the crucial importance of this centenary, various cultural programs will be held in theme of Poland and Polish culture in our art gallery. One of the above mentioned programs will be this exhibition. Polish painter, MAGDALENA KARPIŃSKA’s latest works are going to be exhibited at Platán Gallery in March.
Magdalena Karpińska has been living and working in the capital city of Poland, Warsaw where she graduated as a painter in 2008. Karpińska had several solo and group exhibitions in various countries. She works with a traditional technique: she paints her pictures on canvas or paper with egg tempera she makes herself. Her current works that she prepared especially for Platan Gallery’s project can be interpreted as contemporary rewritings of vanitas stills. The exhibition can be considered as an attempt to rehabilitate the genre.
The genre of vanitas still appeared in the 16th century and became popular in the first half of the 17th century. Artists decide to expose this theme again and rethink, recreate it every now and then. In Poland it became popular after World War I, due to the fact that after the re-restoration of the country’s independence there was an opportunity for culture and fine art to evolve. During this period many well-known Polish artists went back to this genre. Here, names like Henryk Hayden, Wojciech Weiss, Władyslaw Ślewiński, Mela Muter or Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz could be mentioned. All of them created these types of stills in their own unique way. These are the antitypes that Karpińska goes back to. Highlighting the contrary between the picture’s visual attractiveness and its bitter nature is the very thing she emphasizes in her works. The title of the exhibition, ‘Better Bitter’ reflects on this bittersweet phenomenon. It is just like the perfectly painted lemons: they are as beautiful as the real ones, making you want to look, but they have lack of flavour to taste.