Małgorzata Bańkowska (b. 1976), "Secret," 2021

Exhibited
"BeyondWorlds", Elektrownia Gallery of Contemporary Art, Czeladz, 13.06.-17.08.2024.

Biography
Małgorzata Bańkowska was born in 1976 in Milanowek. From birth she was connected with Brwinów and Podkowa Leśna, living on the border of these two picturesque towns. It was here that she began creating while still a child, and here she also had her first exhibitions while still under her maiden name.
Her wedding in 2006 marked big changes in Malgorzata's life. She moved permanently to Warsaw, where she lives and creates to this day, and took her surname from her husband. This is the beginning of an artistic explosion, compounded by a period of pregnancy and the birth of her son Jack in 2008.
During this period, Margaret's works are dominated by eroticism, fetish interspersed with military motifs, biomechanics and medical failure. It was then that a very large collection of drawings "Red Gallery" was created. The works from this period depict mainly women. A woman machine, a woman of beauty even without arms and legs, is always very useful and creative. Psychedelic and somewhat lost world full of dolls.

Margaret is an interdisciplinary artist, but the most important directions in her work are painting and drawing. Surrealism is the main style in which she moves, often rich in historical, mythical or religious symbolism.

A cross-section of paintings and drawings and the years in which they were created shows us the evolution of the style in which the artist moves. The evolution is also evident in the subjects covered and the drawing from other styles, combining them. Here we have a spectrum from minimalist gloom and mysterious monumental figures to gold-rich and exaggerated baroque, sometimes combined with elements of pop art. It's also a cross-section of emotions and moods that determine the artist's direction.

Margaret is an artist who is constantly searching, doing hard, intellectual work in the process. This is where the creative process really begins. She is constantly looking for new inspiration, new themes. This has led to the evolution of her work. Her works still feature women. However, the works have evolved into dystopian surrealism, post-apocalyptic fantasy. Male figures began to appear in the paintings in a very dark way. History, power, domination, war, apocalypse - all these are intertwined in Margaret's paintings. More recently, elements of pop art have also appeared. The format of the painted images has also evolved, they are definitely larger than the previous ones.

This is surrealism thought out, detailed, but without placing unnecessary symbols that add nothing to the subject. Looking at the artist's works, it seems to us that in this play with logical order, everything has its own meaning and sense, while giving a wide spectrum for interpretation.

The process begins with a single thought, an impulse. The artist then creates a "sketch of thoughts" in her head, which develops into dozens of meticulously written notes. This sketch in the head evolves, and the written notes become a signpost. As a rule, she doesn't create sketches of her paintings beforehand, she starts immediately with an underpainting, followed by what she believes is the most important process - creating the so-called core of the painting and finding the right frame. A good frame and the right composition is already at least thirty percent of success.
She then transfers the vision from her head and from her notes directly to the canvas. This is a process where the idea continues to evolve, the vision for the painting maturing as it is created. Even in a very advanced creative process, when the painting seems finished, the artist is able to make significant changes to achieve a full symbiosis of colors and composition.
The final stage is finishing the painting with detail, which the artist calls the jewelry of the painting. This is a very painstaking and labor-intensive stage, after which all that is left is the signature and securing the work with varnish.
She never paints or focuses on one work. He creates two or three paintings at the same time. Which one she approaches depends on such mundane factors as her mood, the emotions she is feeling, the weather or the music she is listening to.

The artist says of her painting that it is a constant journey into her own thoughts and life. It is an inspiring wandering. A lush, galloping imagination has long been a gift, an escape from the bad and unpleasant.
She finds it easy to lose herself in the creative process and cut herself off from reality and pain. Margaret has been suffering from chronic rheumatic disease since she was 22. The disease has become one of the driving forces behind her creativity. Such a retreat into art is a kind of therapy for her and an escape from pain. In some of her paintings one can see the specifics of chronic illness. Illness complicates existence, the functioning of the body and has a huge impact on our psyche. A veritable hunger for creation has developed in Margaret. Even killing pain and discomfort with creation.

That's why she doesn't like to talk about her paintings, what's important to her is the mystery, the conversation of the image with the viewer's imagination, because, after all, through art the author conducts a dialogue. She believes that this "something" cannot be described, named. If language could be used, art would not be necessary. Everyone himself must relate to what he sees. It is an attempt to capture the intangible. Creating a different reality, searching for symbolism and indirect content is freedom and independence.

A characteristic moment in Margaret's work is the pandemic period, when, as if in opposition to the prevailing mood and in avant-garde to her earlier works, very intense colors, gold and a positive message, sometimes even grotesque, appeared in her paintings. The result was a whole series of paintings maintained in the pop-art style, very expressive, painted on impulse, without prior plans, notes or thoughts. Positive emotions during this very depressing period were also a cure for others, with more than 20 works, most of which were sold while the pandemic was still going on.

Currently, the artist has returned to drawing after a long break, but the tools she uses have changed. This time it is nibs and drawing machine ink.
"Drawing with black drafting ink is a whole new creative experience for me, a new tool. First of all, I look for the form, the stain, and totally do not think about the content or detail. It's an impulse, a moment, the first thoughts. An expression of pure form."
During the year, about 200 works were created in four notebooks. This is a very prolific period, similar to when "Red Gallery" was created in 2008.

Margaret's works were sold directly or through galleries for many years. They have gone to collectors on three continents and can be found in Asia, Europe and North America. The largest private collection of Margaret's works is in China.
Recent years have finally brought a revival of the Polish art market, which has opened up opportunities for sales on the domestic market. For the past year, Małgorzata's works have been available for purchase at auctions, mainly at the DESA Unicum auction house.

Małgorzata's works have been featured in sixteen solo exhibitions and six group exhibitions.