Perhaps this is not a matter of freedom or its absence, but rather a decision of conscious renunciation, of settling for what is small, what is close, what is closest.

At times, artists’ choices carry far-reaching consequences. One such decision is the restriction of the painterly palette. This is the path chosen by Urszula Ślusarczyk. She creates her paintings predominantly in cool tonalities of blues, greys, navy and occasionally black. Many artists are drawn to a cool range. There is something compelling about it; without exaggeration, one might even call it elegant. At the same time, there is something neutral in blue, something almost unnoticeable. This is no overstatement. I do not wish here to speak about the symbolic meanings the colour carries, of which there are many, as they are not the most important aspect.

Another issue concerns the formats Ślusarczyk selects for her paintings. Squares and formats close to them predominate. It is as if the painter sought to maintain a particular equilibrium, balancing on the edge of perfection. The circle and the square are geometric absolutes, and to choose them is, in a sense, to reach for what is certain, stable and grounded, perhaps even perfect. On the one hand, the formats are carefully selected; on the other, the painter allows herself small inaccuracies. Something remains slightly unfinished, something ends in a place somewhat different from where it should, one stripe differs subtly from another. Yet this is precisely the intention. At first glance the works appear perfect; on closer inspection, somewhat less so. These absences are deliberate and enticing. They are meant to leave the impression of manual, tactile work.

In her painting she balances between stable, square formats and vertical canvases which, when paired as diptychs, approximate the square. Yet a single horizontal line is enough to undermine the square logic of the support, to question it. The painting then becomes horizontal and ceases to be a purely geometric speculation, turning instead toward landscape. This seems to be another premise of the artist, who, while consistently creating geometric paintings, appears to glance toward landscape and subtly flirt with it. Balancing between the language of abstraction and nature, between the musicality of divisions and their geometric structure, appears to be a compelling field of exploration for the painter.

Despite the strong abstract consistency, chance is also present here and remains very much alive. Alongside it emerges a delicate reference to the formula of landscape painting.

Curator: Bogusław Deptuła 

Photographer: Oliwia Pieniążek