Polish Artist Stopped Time In The Spatial Form
March 31st, 2015 - Warsaw, Ma
In the eighteenth century, Madame Tussaud found a way to stop time, making wax castings of prominent figures. Many artists have tried to follow in her footsteps, creating new forms. This time a Pole created an entirely new concept, which combines the art of painting, sculpture and installation.
Artur Kalinski, artist, photographer and performer, eager to capture time and spatiality, placed his son's face mask in his new collection. His son served as a model. Each of the 10 new works are his varied facial expressions. This specific collection can be defined as the installation of paintings based on relief. The artist brought new elements to the art by experimenting with different forms. He casted masks with resin and primed them with black acrylic paint, then covered them with gold, which is his favorite mean of artistic expression, because, he says, gold "symbolizes purity, inner wealth and beauty." Artur Kalinski is known for the fact that he uses thin and delicate petals of this precious metal in his works as paint.
The artist has sought for a long time to ensure that his works were characterized by spaciousness and evolved to a three-dimensional forms. Initially he created paintings that were barely flat on the canvas primed to later impose more and more paint, adding depth to the painted figures. He highlighted important elements, put thicker undercoat paint and then flakes of pure gold. - In the end, I realized that what most interests me is a relief. I can gain depth through the use of light and shade, and use more gold, without losing it - explains Artur Kalinski.
On some works from the new collection, the faces appear incomplete, unfinished or even blurred. However, it is the intended effect. - My work shows human imperfection, or even weakness, but also the way to achieve perfection, because in all these empty spaces we can mask or make up in the course of our life, working on continuous self-improvement. We always have a chance to improve something in life. In the next 5-10 years I will repeat the experiment in the same way and see how my son has changed - says Artur Kalinski.
The entire collection of 10 images were created over almost four months. Working with spatial form required focus and was more labor-intensive than painting on a flat surface. The artist was preparing one mask for two weeks. It was the time spent not only on its creation, but also the development of the concept of the work and the finish of each detail. - As a rule, the painter strives to reflect the smallest detail as closely as possible, to get closer to the living original. But I wanted to prove that the same face may have different expressions depending on how we present it. The eyes are the mirror of the soul of man, and the face is a picture of the interior and I am presenting it in my new collection - Artur Kalinski adds.