Untitled 125

The works from the Black Hole series by Małgorzata Szymankiewicz, including Bez tytułu 125 (2009) refer to the analogy between the painting surface and the phenomenon of a black hole in space, as the artist notes their similarity in the way they appropriate physical matter. In his early works, Szymankiewicz attempts to transcend the realistic painting convention and develop her own rules of structure. She started with an analysis of fundamental aspects of this area of art – building colour on a plane, the properties of paint and substrate, and the creative process. These experiences have resulted in technically sophisticated, large size paintings presenting irregular colour spots; works focused on works themselves, in line with the modernist aesthetic that calls for depriving art of any tasks or functions in favour of pure aesthetic impressions. The works in the Black Hole series are minimalist, monochromatic acrylic paintings depicting unobvious motifs of spots, hole, destruction, or a fragment. Some of them Szymankiewicz later transforms into spatial projects. She manipulates the habits of our perception, creating forms that suggest specific shapes that she remembers from reality, then disrupts these analogies and questions the natural tendency to search for familiar templates in abstract compositions. Małgorzata Szymankiewicz graduated from the Faculty of Artistic Education and the Faculty of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań (2005). In 2015 she received her doctoral degree at the Faculty of Painting of the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. As of now, she works at the Faculty of Painting and New Media of the Art Academy in Szczecin. In 2007 and 2013 she was distinguished during the prestigious “Bielska Jesień” Painting Biennial. In 2008, she received the Scholarship of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage. In 2010 she was awarded the main prize in the Polish Radio Talenty Trójki” contest.

Marlena Chybowska-Butler