How to express in art what is \nexpress\b\e, to reveal such abstract notions as time, silence, uncertainty? How to catch and preserve what is transient, not materialised, to visualise vapour, to preserve misi? How to convey the essence of colour when it appears to be separated from an object? It can not be achiewed by means oftraditionat formulas. It is necessary to create a new language whose components will be as subtle and hardty tangible as the notions they are to express. If an artist is concerned with the kind of art which in common perception is still strongly influenced by tradition of utility art, they have to overcome some extra difpculties to get their artistic vision across to viewers' awareness.

Małgorzata Wyszogrodzka's creation can certainly be dassified within the term of textiie art, the term which has constantly been reinterpreted for the last few decades. The artist has chosen knitted fabric as the main subject of her interest; in her works she shows the enormous potential of this techniąue, she contradicts our imaginings concerning it, she broadens and modifies its signifcance. She continuousiy searches for new solutions which enable her to quit the rigours of the weawing craft.

First of ali she tries to go away from the concept of knitted fabric as a techniąue which has a l/m/ted potential of expression with regard to its inherent regularity. In the artisfs fabrics the strands offibres, as ifagainst the odds, penetrate new, hardly easiest and simplest ways when they encounter one another in new spots of interlace. Units of modular composition are characterized by irregularity, a deliberate flaw and lack of rhythm. Wyszogrodzka abolishes dullness of repetitiwe seąuences, deliberately introducing disturbances, evoking an impression of accidentality, escaping from an expected algorithm. In the artisfs works thick and delicate, shiny and matt strands permeate in the interlace, there are open-work planes with a variety of different cautiously selected colours. Harmony in this kind ofart is - paradoxically - defined notby repet Jt/Ve rows ofcoheren elements but by factors which disturb perfection, introducing the vitalizing rhythm. The author also expands the area reserved for the kind of fabric treated as a product madę of traditional weaving fibres. She searches for new creatiwe materials, makes works from wire and plastic, builds constructions from wicker; each discovered materiał is treated as a textile materiał.

In this way the notion of knitted fabric is verified at waried layers; it loses its common historical meaning, and, what is most important here, it goes away from the terr/tory of utility art, the area which is traditionally associated with knitted fabric. The basis for the artisfs activity is a machine-made materiał, flat, hiding potentially possible solutions. By overlapping, folding, stretching, this 'sculptural' materiał obtains finał visual effects which are in a way unpredictable. Despite an owerałł assumption, changeability is an inevitable feature ofthis artistic concept.

Małgorzata Wyszogrodzka creates works waried in mood, distinct in form, s/ze and construction. She cares for an appropriate compatibility of the artistic concept and technological solutions. Her works are characterised by both great discipline and simplicity in building structures as well as internal coherence of construction, materiał and means of expression.

At the same time the works are fuli of beauty, and - taking into account some of the appiied materials - atonishing decorativeness. The basie features of Małgorzata Wyszogrodzka' works are above a\\ openness and incompleteness. As a matter of pet they are drawings madę in space by means of fibres. Making various weaves, the artist behaves like a drawer who, with the use of a \ine, traces shapes on a two-dimensional ground. Her intention is easily observed in the works which, like paintings, are to be hung fiatly on the wali. Permeating of fabric iayers, presence of interwoven elements, distinct in their texture and colour, evoke space ąuaiities, similarly to appropriately directed and tonally unified drawing lines, which create an impression of depth on a sheet of paper.

It is fibrę that the artist uses to shape some intangible phenomena. It is due to lines woven into the air that they exist, they are trapped into a form. Compositions become a visible and nervous epidermis for these notions.

Materiality of plastic structures is fragile. In Małgorzata Wyszogrodzka's works even relatiwely heavy materials form light airy ąualities. Those suspended in space are subjected to the movements of the air. And even though the air permeates through them like through the mist, they need a three-dimensional surrounding to come into existence; at the same time it is the forms of fabric that organize and activate space, they define it and make it real.

The very forms appear to be transient and supernatural not only in respect of lightness and instability of the materials but also because they are characterized by spedfic airiness. It seems as if we obserwed only the beginning of a certain phenomenon, something that is just in the process of conception, yet - as we feel - nothing can stop its continuous evolution. They remind us of a trail of breath frozen in the air, madę visible, ectoplasm evoked by a medium. Małgorzata Wyszogrodzka''s work is characterized by a variety of materials. The works are something between the category of scuipture and painting. The structures become a synthesis of the materiał which imposes the form and its colour. Colour is presented in its essence, it becomes an independent theme of works. The physical tissue of compositions is indispensible here only in order to make colour visible. Abstract ąuality, though still hardly tangible, suspended in the air like a phantom, transforms into a realistic form. Owing to the artisfs interference it is deprived of any associations with the object and becomes autonomous. The use of blue is particularly significant for the artist - it is the colour of inpnity, the symbol of airiness, transcendence, something elusiwe. Other important elements of the composition are rhythm, texture, light and shade effects. To a large extent the finał effect depends on light which is an essential element for the artist, contributing to the whole composition rather than being a complementary factor. Like movements of the air which make works mobile and apparently alive. Optical effects, like other components ofawork, are changeable, in a way unpredictable, thus they intensify the impression of instability of the whole composition. The works are organie in their character. It is not only associated with the fact that organie fibres are used (and fibres in generał), with the spedfic naturę of knitted fabric and its 'modular1 structure, with mobility of forms, with their visible nerves. It also lies in shapes given to objects, forms resembling plants or sea fauna. Compositions conjured by Małgorzata Wyszogrodzka, though undoubtedly pnd their counterparts in the surrounding world (we can observe some moss, and grass, and thicket of reed, and exotic underwater flora), are not a representation of reality. They are abstract ephemeral structures, stimulating imagination by their form and mood. They inspire, become a source of various feelings and emotions.

Małgorzata Wyszogrodzka expresses her emotions by means of visual signs, as it is difpcult to express by words, which are also fragile and impredse, what is inexpressible. Therefore the artist awoids an aneedote, she does not tell a story. She puts the main stress on form which conweys the meaning, reveals psychical condition, prowokes associations, astonishes. In the arduous process of creation she combines thoughts and emotions, immerses them in blue, launches into space, yet still being in awe of the phenomenon of life and art.

Dariusz Leśnikowski

Transl. Elżbieta Rodzeń-Leśnikowska