The power of colour suggestion

The point of reference for Patrycja Nurkan’s painting compositions is always an impulse coming from the surrounding world, and direct perception and observation of nature is the essential part of the creative act. Meetings with spectacular forms, colour-light phenomena occurring in the world of nature become a source of experience and artistic inspirations. With the multitude of stimuli the painter abstracts elements which later on she analyses and transforms; transposed into the signs of art they form the pictorial layer of her works. The compositions are certainly a reflection of visual sensations; however, they also express a variety of emotions and feelings (e.g. a sense of transience, volatility, evanescence of phenomena). The author does not give titles to her works as she does not want to narrow down the area of their possible interpretations.

Patrycja Nurkan’s source of artistic inspirations could be seen in the areas of various trends of contemporary art. We observe that the painter turns mainly to tendencies dominated by aesthetic values, by distinctive impressionability. Even when a speculative factor prevails (like in op-art), the forms are more a medium and a source of sensual rather than discursive values.

Expressive, slightly comic-like ‘portraits’, canvases characterized by lively and ‘unreal’ colouring are deprived of dramatic and symbolic reference. They are images of any specific individuals. The human figure gains the value of visual synthesis composed of geometric, abstract forms. The thing that matters is mainly the aesthetic factor, even detached from its semantic meaning; it is only a pretext, a vehicle for the artistic quality. The author’s particular interest is also confirmed by other works, both older ones, forming a series of allusive ‘cosmic landscapes’ (they might have been inspired by satellite images) and those belonging to the more recent, already numerous ‘optical’ series. In these works, too, the artist focuses more on formal aspects than on the message of the images.

Out of the depths of chaos she brings to the surface structural elements of composition, usually organized around a unifying centre. In the literal and figurative sense, she reveals the ‘interior of the painting’, which begins to act as a kind of ‘Pandora’s box’, releasing painting elements. With the variable liquid substance the artist creates the space and form. Both in the works referring to the tradition of op-art, as well as the free-flowing, allusive ‘landscape’ compositions this released energy evokes movement and rhythm; colours flow, the whirling and emanating light fights with darkness for primacy. Focusing on painting values, the young artist continuously searches for new areas of artistic inspiration. Her works make recognisable series; her artistic quest goes in many directions.

In addition to traditional, though diverse painting techniques, the author uses elaborate, individual, labour-intensive methods. She has also made various attempts in the field of printing the image on different surfaces. In each situation, the images are usually the result of disciplined, time-consuming, painstaking work. Patrycja Nurkan appreciates craftsmanship, which for her is an important quality and a constitutive feature of a work of art.

Forming and increasing the artist’s self-awareness, the works are to some extent selfreferential and self-cognitive in their character, touching the essence of the creative act. They also expose the mechanisms of our interpretative habits, showing how a set of recognizable or merely familiar imagery evokes a subjective semantic quality, often against the original intentions of the artist, who does not build a literal message.

Dariusz Leśnikowski

Transl. Elżbieta Rodzeń-Leśnikowska





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