Blade through a pillow ”at the Satyrykon Gallery
The Satyrykon Gallery hosted the opening of the exhibition “Blade through the pillow” by the outstanding author Izabela Kowalska – Wieczorek on September 18.
This is an exceptional exhibition. The artist – through her great works – reacts to the problems of the modern world: violence, climate change or cruelty towards animals that she loves very much. They are sensitive, wise, full of feelings. Unfortunately, we, humans, often do not understand and appreciate this love, so I do not hesitate to shout with my works in defense of our four-legged (and not only) friends – says the artist. And translates, among others the meaning of the drawing presented at the exhibition in Legnica, showing a wolf locked behind bars, clearly sad, surrounded by a crowd of “red caps”, each of which has a treat for the pet. I drew this work for a contest organized by Animal Cartoon about wildlife life in zoos. We humans often think that we can make wild animals happy by providing them with good food and “a roof over their heads”. Meanwhile, these wild creatures need freedom, space, hunting, living in accordance with their nature. Only then are they really happy, which people often cannot understand, says Izabela Kowalska-Wieczorek.
The exhibition, which can be viewed free of charge at the Satyrykon Gallery until the end of October, gathers excellent opinions. Tomasz Broda himself wrote about the author:”The prick of a satirical pin is soothing with anesthesia. As in the drawing of a bullfighter who sticks another blade into the bull’s back, covered with a pillow. Soft lines and pastel colors allow the artist to safely touch the most important problems of the present day (…). Topics include war, drought, logging, addiction to electronic media, and even the ongoing pandemic. But it is also about what is timeless and giving hope: such as the need for closeness, friendship or love and true devotion.
The most interesting results are achieved by Kowalska-Wieczorek when she manages to combine the precision of execution with the synthesis of the message, as in the drawing with the hedgehog, who considered the brush to be his friend and sat down in front of her for dinner, bringing her an apple as a gift (…). The works of Kowalska-Wieczorek are also a show of illustrative precision, visible in every detail: the bark of a tree, a swarm of leaves, a messy room of a passionate cyclist, or a big city panorama.The artist develops an idea that another artist would deal with with just a few strokes into a multi-threaded and multi-level story. This is the case, for example, with a wolf locked in a cage, which looks with a sad resignation at another plate filled with meat and may be expected to die from overeating. The more so because in front of his cage a whole crowd of little hoods has gathered, and each of the chubby girls is holding in front of her some gift for a poor man: a freshly baked cake, and this is a goose, and this is a basket of eggs. From a devourer of little girls, the king of the forest turned into a dull with delicacies, restrained by the excess of food ”. Izabela Kowalska – Wieczorek was born in 1955 in Toruń. She studied at the Faculty of Painting, Graphics and Sculpture at the PWSSP in Wrocław (today’s Academy of Fine Arts), where she obtained a diploma in graphic design. He practices painting, workshop graphics, drawing, textile sculpture and publishing graphics. For many years she has been a well-known illustrator of books for children, and since 2013 she has also been working with satirical drawing.For almost 30 years, he has been cooperating with the Foundation for Children “Help on Time”.The artist’s output includes individual and collective exhibitions, both domestic and foreign. She is a laureate of many national and international competitions. The exhibition “Blade through the pillow” will be open at the Satyrykon Gallery until the end of October. People who choose to visit the exhibition are kindly requested to bring protective face masks.
Courtesy: Izabela Kowalska-Wieczorek