Barbara Palka Winek
Biography
I am a painter. I was born in Upper Silesia but live in Krakow. I graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow in 1983.
My painting is characterized by exploration and experimentation with the form and substance of the image. I work in series that complement each other, ultimately creating a full range of my feelings and experiences.
I have shown my paintings in solo and group exhibitions in Krakow and many other venues in Poland and around the world. I have exhibited in Paris, London, Venice, Florence, Monaco, New York, Tokyo, and Shanghai, participating in biennials and art fairs.
My artworks are in the collections of the Diocesan Museum in Katowice, the Southern Nevada Museum of Modern Art in Las Vegas, and the Museum of Silesia in Katowice.
Artist Statement
I think that each painting should make an impression; it cannot be indifferent to the viewer. The idea of the painting is important, so that it is not just another canvas painted without meaning and without purpose. There must be an idea that we illustrate through painting. I want to show the transience of a moment closed in the plane of color and penetrating matter through light. I try to show transcendence. I have done this in cycles - Screens, Woman - Imago, and Stream of Time.
I do not limit myself to one topic. The most recent cycle is "Time Stream." This topic arose from my interest in the cosmos, the multidimensionality of time and space, and parallel worlds. I am interested in where energy is accumulated when isolated from the body.
The topics are contained in the cycles I mentioned earlier, as well as Obsessions and Archetypes. They are all current; they are not finished, and new paintings are created in each of these cycles.
The woman has always been the dominant topic. A sensual, reflective, or obsessive woman. A woman - a flower or a woman's metamorphosis. Not a specific person, but a woman. This topic appeared at the very beginning of my artistic work and has remained very important to me to this day. Over the years, this subject has undergone numerous transformations - female obsessions, sensuality, women as flowers, Woman - Imago, and archetypes of a woman.
My paintings combine figurative and abstract painting. I want them to be read in this way. I require more effort and commitment from the viewer of my paintings - to pay attention not only to the composition, form, penetration of the planes of color, brightness, and light. Light is reflected differently from a flat surface than from a thick texture. Additional impressions are created by transparent textures. I want my paintings to have a sensual and emotional effect, not necessarily because of the content, but more because of the diversity of their surfaces.
Penetration of textures, colors, and light - as in life - the permeation of feelings: love in sadness, sadness in reflection, reflection in expectation. Expectation for love.
This painting requires a great deal of emotional engagement to sense the transience of the moment.
Painting is, for me, a link between the real world and the transcendent.
Apart from artistic values, art should contain a mystery.
In each painting, one can read the emotional charge that was conveyed to it in the creative act.
FLOWERS OF GRIEF, 2020, oil and own tech. on canvas, 140 x 100
OBSESSIONS - SHADOW ARCHETYPE, 2013, oil and own tech. on canvas, 140 x 100
METMORPHOSEA, 2012, oil and own tech. on canvas, 140 x 100
LUX QUAM UMBRA, 2022, oil and own tech. on canvas, 140 x 100
MOTHER ARCHETYPE II, 2012, oil and own tech. on canvas, 140 x 100
MOTHER ARCHETYPE II, 2012, oil and own tech. on canvas, 140 x 100
PURPLE IMAGO, 2013, oil and own tech. on canvas, 140 x 100
PAPILOFLORES, 2012, oil and own tech. on canvas, 140 x 140
REQUIEM FOR THE BODY, 2020, oil and own tech. on canvas, 140 x 100
TAMING REALITY, 2026, oil and own tech. on canvas, 140 x 100
