Istnienie
Existence

Summary/Abstract: Anna Szpakowska-Kujawska concentrates on painting and graphic art, but, also, she is interested in collage technique and sculpted objects. Foggy portraits and colorful African calabashes document her interest in different forms of cultural life. The artist wants to capture what is fugitive and unique in the reality. She reveals mysterious and dark aspects of the human existence. Nevertheless, she doesn’t forget about joyful and simple motifs. At the beginning of her artistic career, she was influenced by classical Greek and Asian art. Her art oscillates between the murky abyss of totalitarian reality, and peaceful, often exotic themes. Her paintings and drawings are dynamic and expressive. When she traveled in Nigeria, she carefully studied African landscape. Even the ugliness of dry season was the source of innovative approach. She registered her impressions while looking into wide-open eyes and mouths of people and animals, and revealed the vitality of African life, which survives in difficult conditions. Multiple ears, legs and arms seem to show how powerful the will to exist can be, even when non-esthetic forms dominate in the reality. We cannot be sure what the chaotic forms represent, but we are assured by the artists, that life sparkles in darkness, and is continued in spite of many obstacles. The pictures Szpakowska- Kujawiñska produces are overwhelming because of their inner strength. Also, they are delicate and empathic. The artist often uses literary motifs in her work. She says ‘I, You’, and she adds ‘We exist’, as if she were willing to remind us, again and again, of ‘what and who we are’, and that we ‘are who we are’.

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