Skrobiszewska hardly goes out

“I Hardly Ever Go Out” is the latest show by Katarzyana Skrobiszewska at the Nowa Gallery. Her show is composed of 24 small paintings depicting the interior of the artist’s home. Themes of open doors that look into the void of dark rooms and images of chandeliers on ceilings paint a picture of tranquility and bleakness.

The artist found inspiration for this series in Eugene Inoesco’s novel “The Hermit.” The main character, a single, middle-aged man, unexpectedly receives an inheritance. From that moment on, he begins to enjoy a life free of material worries. In a matter of time, it becomes apparent to him that money cannot buy him happiness. He begins to lose touch with reality and falls into a philosophical meditation over life.

Skrobiszewska identifies a parallelism between herself and Ionesco’s main character. She refers to one excerpt of the book in particular, “I have a method of getting out of sadness and fear-it doesn’t work always-the method is to observe the surrounding objects and people with the greatest attention. Adhere to that. I look real carefully and suddenly it’s like I see the world and all the people for the first time. And then it becomes incomprehensible and bizarre.”

Like the excerpt of “The Hermit,” the exhibit demonstrates a great deal of poetry with little substance. The concept of the exhibit is interesting, yet it lacks a sort of self-discipline that should have been illustrated on several levels. The themes of Skrobiszewska’s pieces are limited to only several repeating views made on 24 paintings, although there is a striking combination of dual views on a single canvas. According to the press release of her exhibition, this was done to achieve the effect of a large, mystic home that seems to form a kind of labyrinth.

The images of the home’s interior are precise and made with delicate brush strokes. Many of these images capture an element of picturesque quality.  For example, we see a realistic view of an open door looking into a room with a bed. There is something on the bed, but the artist has made it unclear as to what it is. It can be concluded that these paintings reflect the artist’s dual characters.

Regardless, each observer can discover his or her own interpretation at the Nowa Gallery (ul. Kochanowsi 10).
The exhibition runs until October 17, Monday through Friday, 11:00- 18:00.

The artist was born in Krakow in 1976. She graduated from the Local Academy of Fine Arts. Since then, Skrobiszewska has taken part in many exhibitions such as, “Inspiring Humanity” at the ArtSpace Gallery in Edinburgh (2007), “Forma Jest Pustka” (“The Form is Emptiness”) at Schindler’s Factory In Krakow (2006), “Look at Me” by Bunkier Szutki (2002), and the fourth Student’s International Art Biennial in Skopje, Macedonia (2002).

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