Art Corner
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The Art of
Karen Corinne Herceg
Agnieszka Nowinska is that rare artist who soars
across borders and enchants us with the universal
language of her artistry. She offers us a body of
work that seems limitless without redundancy. Her
art conveys an elusive union of past and present
infused with both nostalgic longing and future
possibilities. These creations illuminate our world in
archetypal yet contemporary imprints. Working in
a variety of forms and genres, she has created an
oeuvre that is cohesive and unifying while retaining
its singularity and a consistently identifiable style.
Born in Bielsko-Biala, Poland, Nowinska
attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow
and graduated with honours from the MFA
program in set design and fine art. Her final
project in the program was an interior design
inspired by author Jules Verne’s “Journey to the
Center of the Earth.” It was awarded a Gold
Medal and was chosen as one of three national
winners exhibited at the Louvre Museum in
Paris.
Another project completed for her MFA
included an animated movie, “K Kontra Kafka,”
shown on National Public Television in Warsaw
and in the Animation Film Festival in Europe.
Nowinska’s 2013 exhibition, “It’s All About
Energy,” was curated by Stefania Carrozzini at
the Onishi Gallery in New York City. In 2006
she received scholarships from the Bank
Bancaja in Valencia, Spain for continuation of
her doctoral thesis and from Ford USA, which
helped launch an individual exhibit in Miami,
Florida.
Nowinska’s paintings can be found in
collections in the US, Canada and Europe.
She’s the recipient of numerous grants and
commissioned works. International in scope,
she works in fine art, giclee on canvas, graphic
design, set design and clothing design. There
are works she creates with her breath, blowing
articles of paint by mouth across the canvas.
She describes “…molding lagoons of water with
my breath into stalactite shapes that blend
and dilute the explosions of paint.”* As she
explains further, “Some become minimalist
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Each piece
creates a mood
stains that comment more on the whiteness of
the paper and others completely consume the
white to leave a tantric tapestry that reminds
me of sub-marine seascapes.”*
Her travels in Andalusia inspire bright, vivid
imagery in combination with drawings,
photographs, woodcuts, etchings and various
special effects. Of these processes Nowinska
states, “My artworks tell a story which each
spectator can develop from his/her own
impressions. It begins to create a surreal
world, incites a revolt in logic and transports
them to other dimensions. They are visions
of parallel universes, although quite fantastic,
that comment on our cycles of life and death
in a symbolic language.”*
She communicates in a style that is both
classic and synchronistic, patterns yoked in
rhythm and movement, and no line gratuitous.
Each piece creates a mood and prompts a
memory or association. Opulent contours
and fine details compel us to discover
multiple points of clarity within intricacy and
complexity. Many pieces incorporate human
elements stripped to their anatomically exact
skeletal forms that are combined into native
components and vistas. Humanity and nature
blend flawlessly. It allows for reconciliation
within both the quixotic and quotidian that
instils a harmonious solace within us. Flow and
movement are defined precisely despite many
images being of miniscule proportions.
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