All within a very short space of time, the Polish artist Karolina Zgłobicka (b 1988) has been noticed for her art by the press. I.e. count in Vogue UK, Foci and Yorkshire Art Journal. In addition, she has supplied paintings to private collectors and has been shortlisted by Saatchi Art and others in various contexts.
However, there is an interesting preamble to this development, and it might best be summed up this way. “Life is what happens when you’ve just made other plans”. Cynics who suffer from severe bouts of cliché allergy groan when they hear that phrase by John Lennon. But it rings true with the young artist and the rest of us.
In fact, Karolina Zgłobicka was beavering away on a degree in Finance and Accounting at the Wroclaw University of Economics when she decided to dedicate her life to art. The decisive moment was really not a moment but more of a course of events.
In 2011, She came to Manchester as a student looking for a summer job between academic terms and to practice her English. In Poland, her studies had come along fine, but she had felt compelled to draw more and more, and she increasingly visited galleries to look at art. So after two months in Manchester, she decided to stay and enrol at Manchester School of Art. The rest is history. Zgłobicka has graduated in fine art and plans to embark on her Masters.
On the art of Zgłobicka
The artist produces vivid and well-orchestrated compositions. The multi-layered semi-abstract and abstract work both explores contradictions which occur when the artist combines areas of colours in the process. The memorable series of work is gestural and poetic without there ever being any trace of sentimentality involved. The magic happens right at the surface as instant impact. Then there is what you might term an after-burner effect where you tune into the more subtle details. E.g. you soon notice that that paint appears visually liquid in the work and that adds to the serious arsenal of the otherwise playful representations.
The paintings are the direct result of many layers in which particularly white has been used to eradicate previous structures to make way for new ones, and where white counterbalanced contrasting darker colours. As with much strictly figurative, so is it with abstract work. There is an endless supply of influences that catalyse excellent art, and there is always those all important spices called identity and self-biography.
i am trying to question who is a painter, who is a viewer and who is an accompaniment in an endless performance of creativity in the context of contemporary painting scene, being an art student, being a student of art, being a foreigner
Karolina Zgłobicka, 2015
You can find out more about the artist by visiting karolinazglobicka.com
© all images courtesy of Karolina Zgłobicka, all rights reserved.
