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Volker Diehl: EWELINA CHRZANOWSKA - I PREFER TO DRAW TODAY - 30 May 2009 to 13 June 2009 Current Exhibition |
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EWELINA CHRZANOWSKA I PREFER TO DRAW TODAY OPENING: May 29, 2009, 5 - 8 P.M. May 30 - June 13, 2009 Tuesday - Saturday, 11 A.M. - 6 P.M. It was Ewelina Chrzanowska�s drawings which brought her to international attention while she was a young student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krak�w in her native Poland. She soon became interested in the opportunities for artists in Berlin and therefore encouraged some Berlin galleries to view her website in 2007. Galerie Volker Diehl was in part attracted by her compositional confidence and intrigued by a young artist choosing a relatively unfashionable medium in which to work. Ewelina�s art explores intensely personal themes. However although she documents their development and records critical reaction they receive, little of this is shared with the viewer. Much is left open to interpretation, though what is unmistakeable is Ewelina�s complete surrender to the process of creation � it�s exposed in each delicate marking that makes up the fine shading of her pencil work. Bodily and medical preoccupations run through her later work. Flesh parts become landscapes of swirling, otherworldly shapes, eruptions of vivid colour blaze against a background of monochromatic pencil. Figures stand alone and contemplative or in scarcely more interactive groups, including enigmatic representations of the artist, elegant and slim with her hair in its characteristic bob. Born in Sosnowiec, Poland, in 1984, Ewelina�s art was personal from the start, her earliest endeavours taking the form of visually documenting her day-to-day life and family occasions. Among her formative influences were painters Jerzy Nowosielski from Poland and the American Georgia O�Keeffe. Later she came to know and devoured the work of a broad range of contemporary visual artists and independent film-makers, including the sculptor Louise Bourgeois, who was the inspiration for one of Ewelina�s own series. By the time she reached the Academy in Krak�w, it was already clear that Ewelina�s future was dedicated to drawing and painting. Unlike most other students, she was allowed to exclude the rest of the general curriculum, though staff did try, unsuccessfully, to insist that she abandon her pencils for institutionally approved charcoal. At this time she moved from oils to acrylic in her painting. In late 2007 she travelled to study under the Erasmus programme in London, where she also continued to produce her own work until returning to Poland the following spring. Her work was exhibited in 2004�s Flamenco at the Rotunda Cultural Association in Krak�w. Later she co-founded the city�s Artpol gallery and an untitled piece in artificial fur was part of the 2007 group exhibition �16 things which may not have been found�. The following January the gallery showed her �[] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] []�. This installation consisted of 403 10cm x 50cm coloured pencil on cardboard reproductions of parquet flooring laid in an otherwise empty room. By the summer of 2008, a successful career seemed secured. She was planning a solo exhibition with Galerie Volker Diehl, who had also invited her to stay and work in the thriving artistic community of Berlin. Through informal showings of her drawings, interest in the yet unknown artist was building and other galleries in Berlin were also keen to work with her. But just as years of creative development and study were about to flower, Ewelina died in Poland on 15 September, at the age of only 24 years, leaving family, friends and colleagues across Europe shocked and devastated. It was not until the end of 2008 that the decision was made to continue with promoting her work publicly. In January her archive was catalogued in preparation for exhibitions which will now run over the year. Text by Lucian Randall Text by Lucian Randall Exhibitions 2009 Prague Biennale 14 May�26 July, paintings with Bunkier Sztuki Galerie Volker Diehl, Berlin, May, 30 � June 13 Website www.helloewelina.com |
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