Experiencing Space
SPACE – mysterious emptiness, which starts to vibrate after you experience it profoundly. It’s the effect of our presence and concentration that fill it with energy. Specific moods appear – emotions able to change our perspective and the reception of reality. With right sensitivity we can become possessed by melancholy and distinct sensation of floating which may not be pleasant for everybody, but which allows us to switch to sensual reception of everything that’s real and imaginary. That’s why the study of space for me is the indicator for what is IN BETWEEN.
Numerous vanishing points, connected by the lines are placed in the perspective diagrams on the axis of symmetry; similarly, the present time connects different possibilities, variants of events or decisions which we subconsciously consider when we approach a specific situation in our lives and quietly contemplate it. Reality and fiction interpenetrate each other on many different occasions creating their own, distinct world where anything is possible – things that are seemingly impossible happen as well as possible yet unlikely situations which are merely a game of spaces.
In my art I am mainly interested in the feeling of being suspended in space, the image of consciousness “here and now”. Visual representation of this state, speaking about the moments of internal halt, moments we sit and contemplate in some place special for us, looking somewhere far ahead of us – it’s a tremendous challenge I am willing to take. Catching and understanding internal time of halt, when we grasp the horizon with our thoughts is like meditation. It fascinates me. At the same time it’s motivating and relaxing. Therefore, the recipient looking at numerous vanishing points scattered in my paintings, may find most of all a distant metaphor of these moments, when contemplation, silence, peace and metaphysical stillness where the most important. This vanishing point which is particularly important for me is almost like a visualised flash of self-consciousness, a short crack in the everyday routine which allows me to discover imaginary spaces, and apart from that, depicts the tension, internal discrepancies and unconscious aspirations.
Also in architecture I look for sensations, after approaching which, we are unable to create the moment of hard to define excitement, fuelled by short and elusive sensation of eeriness. We open ourselves to a completely new, sensual experiencing of spaces, where it resonates. We feel the vibrations it produces, which in turn create strong experiences, just like it was the catalyst of emotions.
Katarzyna Kowalska
Photo: Andrzej S. Bieniek and private archives of the artist
