Exercises in Attention

Exercises in Attention

Artists: Alicja Bielawska, Teresa Starzec

Curator: Paulina Olszewska 

Galeria Sztuki im. Jana Tarasina
pl. św. Józefa 5
62-800 Kalisz

 25.04.2024 – 24.05.2024

photo: Bartosz Górka

“Exercises in Attention” is a conversation between two artists: Teresa Starzec and Alicja Bielawska. Teresa Starzec (born 1952) is an artist working with the medium of painting and drawing, while Alicja Bielawska (born 1980) uses spatial forms, using fabric and ceramics. The exhibition focuses on the moments in which their practices meet and find issues that both of them have in common.
What we encounter in both Teresa Starzec and Alicja Bielawska is the titular attention, i.e. a way of perceiving the reality around us and transforming it into the language of art. Both artists also refer to nature in different ways and use its elements or motifs related to it. Teresa Starzec treats her paintings as a synthesis of landscapes saturated with air and light, in the surroundings of which the artist creates every day. Teresa Starzec’s works encourage us to look at the reality around us through feelings and impressions.
The starting point for Bielawska’s spatial works are the architectural forms of screens, partitions and curtains, which create new spatial relationships, giving a sense of intimacy and security, and separating the interior while remaining open to the entire room. The artist uses naturally dyed fabrics to create her forms, and some patterns are inspired by the floodplains of the Narew River.
“Attention exercises” is also a conversation between a mother and her daughter, women who share an emotional bond, as well as non-verbal and intuitive understanding. This is visible in the exhibition space, when Teresa Starzec’s paintings are combined with Alicja Bielawska’s installations, and the colors and forms in their works complement each other. Additionally, in the sculpture “Cutouts” (2019), Alicja Bielawska incorporates into the female narrativethe motifs from cutouts that were created by her grandmother, Halina Bielawska.
The exhibition “Exercises in Mindfulness” presents images created by Teresa Starzec over the last few years. Alicja Bielawska uses existing installations and sculptures supplemented with works created especially for the space of the Jan Tarasin Art Gallery in Kalisz. Among them are objects specially designed by the artist, which encourage us to sit on them and stay in the space here and now, to practice our own attention paid to our surroundings.

Paulina Olszewska

Exhibition partner: Hestia Artistic Journey Foundation and STU ERGO Hestia S.A.
Funded by the Hestia Artistic Journey Foundation

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