Karolina Balcer (PL) & Iwona Ogrodzka (PL)

Artists: Karolina Balcer (PL) & Iwona Ogrodzka (PL)

Pilipczuk Gallery is thrilled to represent the duo-exhibition by Polish artists Karolina Balcer and Iwona Ogrodzka titled JINX. Everyone is welcome to the opening on the 21st of April 5PM-7PM. At 6PM the gallery will be hosting a professional dance performance by professional contemporary dancers with a following artist presentation of Balcer and Ogrodzka. The artists will be present during the whole opening and available for any questions regarding their work.

United by their shared view of the world, Karolina Balcer and Iwona Ogrodzka show works that are strongly rooted in the theme of family and childhood, but which also reflect on contemporary challenges with special attention to mental health and the planet’s climate challenges. The exhibition title “JINX” is ambiguous. It refers to the English word jinx, which can be translated as a curse: to cast a jinx on someone is to curse (as in superstition) or to bewitch. A person or an object can also be considered a jinx in the sense of “one who brings misfortune“, a bad omen or the black sheep of the family. The title “JINX” also refers to a CHILD’s game, which involves saying jinx if you say the same word at the same time. The superstition and the playful element of the exhibition are important to Ogrodzka and Balcer, who convey their messages with a twinkle in the eye, lightness and childlike enthusiasm:

 “We turn all curses and misfortunes inside out, show their courage and analyze them in our works. JINX is an exhibition about irrational fear, about ups and downs, but also about understanding what it is that happens within us every day.” – Karolona Balcer & Iwona Ogrodzka

Balcer has a great diversity in her practice working with painting, installation, video and sculpture. Over the past few years she has embraced tufting as her primary artistic tool. The medium came from a need to create works focusing on mental illness in the family. A subject she experienced was unapproachable, taboo and which was often “swept under the carpet”. Based on this reference, Balcer began working with tufting. The tufted carpet works show the homely, the cozy and the safe, but also contain the hidden – as in what you wish to hide. For the exhibition JINX, Balcer has worked in line with her previous exhibition “Happy Family Project”, where she worked from personal experiences with depression, addiction and psychological challenges in Balcer’s own family. Where Balcer was preoccupied with mental illness in her previous works, she examines mental health in her new series, to keep in metal good shape. The works are uplifting and full of hope, good mood and a bright view of the future.

Ogrodzka deals with painting, video art and photography. For the exhibition JINX, Ogrodzka has chosen acrylic painting as her medium, through which she recalls stories about her hometown Lukowica in Poland, with strong connections to her childhood. Although the paintings are rooted in Ogrodzka’s childhood town, the landscape motifs of the works feel relatable and with their open choice of motifs, give the viewer the opportunity to form personal associations. At first glance, the works, with their clear and pure colors and gentle motifs of green valleys, hills and rainbows, appear immediate and easily digestible. But if one takes a closer look at the works, one might notice that the landscapes bleed, that it snows despite summer motifs, that there are floodings and that comets fall from the sky. The works shout that our planet is undergoing rapid change and that we must take better care of the climate changes – although the message is wrapped in beautiful pink, green, blue, yellow, clear and light colors, there is no mistaking the serious message.

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