Kasia Turajczyk - Much Ado About My Art

My devotion to Pinocchio is not a secret. I have always loved the character from the book by Carlo Collodi. I loved Disney's Pinocchio, I love the Russian Pinocchio, and I love my two Pinocchio toys. They have travelled with me around the world; they are ancient and wise. Made in Russia, they came from Russia to me. They are old, probably 50 and 45 years old. They are ageing. One of them has lost his hair and, unfortunately, his nose. Since I was introduced to Pinocchio's character, I have always been painting and drawing this wonderful marionette. Pinocchio willy-nilly was becoming a hero of my work. My first portrait of Pinocchio was an oil on canvas, very expressionistic, with fat, large strokes of brush paint. It is a dark painting. The next was lighter, brighter, finer, with the spell of impressionistic touch. The series Return of Peter Pan also has a Pinocchio theme. Two brothers sitting close to each other and talking. A few years ago, I made another painting with Pinocc...

Count not that as yours which fortune has made yours.   For Niels Bohr   If I were born like you in cold Denmark In the year 1885, (Nota Bene - Not really a special year,  Except that Burma became British) Would I have discovered the atom like you did? The connection you established between the quantum theory of Planck  and the atomic theory of Thomson and Rutherford? Or would I have wandered through the streets of Cambridge, In my mind, the verses of Morris From The Life and Death of Jason "Dreamer of dreams, born out of due time, Why should I strive to set the crooked straight?" How would I find the Victorian Empire, the height of hypocrisy, The death of Oscar Wilde, the tales from your fellow countryman? What would I do in that most inspiring period at the beginning of the XX century? The development of electricity, the cinema, the automobile, the telephone. But also the First World War and, later on, World War II. Di...

It is an open secret that contemporary art has lost its connection to beauty and the sacred. Another very important aspect is the craftsmanship. A huge percentage of contemporary art colleges' students and contemporary artists can’t draw or paint. The only thing that they are able to do is to express their own ideas or feelings. There is no beauty in most of the products of art and the sacred element is missing. Sassetta (Stefano di Giovanni) (Italian, Sienese, active by 1423 Annunciation by Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi, around 1333 - detail On the other hand XX/XXI century art was/is an act of expression, so perhaps I am wrong. Maybe contemporary art is the expression of contemporary people who have lost any connection with the beautiful and the sacred?! Maybe they may not need these aesthetical and ethical sentiments from the past. Mass culture, popular culture, deception, profit, popularity and selfishness. The flow of information is so overwhelming - we don't ...