Own mixed technique - characteristic of the new expressionism of Prof. Krzysztof Skarbek : acrylic, oil pastel, glitter, textures - on canvas,
dimensions: 70 x 70 x 70 cm, 2016, signed Krzysztof Skarbek 2016
MY FAIRY TALE IN PAINTING ALSO PHOTOGRAPHY
In the current proposal I would like to present paintings, inspired by various narratives of cinema, the 1960s, as well as primitive, tribal culture. This peculiar cluster of ideas and aesthetics, located at opposite poles, allows me to see the desires of man in his eternal and ever-present aspirations, expressed in symbols and also unchanging archetypes. The 1960s gave pop culture a peculiar shape, presenting an admiration for technological development and its impact on culture and everyday life. I try to depict, often with positive irony, emphasized with humor ever-present antinomies such as love and death, friendship and struggle. My paintings can trigger questions about the future of our civilization. I intend to reveal a reflection full of optimism, related to the contemporary conditions of life, often using the tool of persiflage.
When creating, I activate events from the borderline of everyday life, dreams, colloquial activities and fairy tales. The content and structure of fairy tales reveals a basic wisdom that is readable to all in many cultures. It goes back to the roots of familiar human desires, as well as providing a kind of puzzle that can be solved personally. In my fairy tale, banal everyday life is transformed into the realization of desires for an unforced life, in accordance with the projections of unfettered fantasy. We can also see here the new myths and symbols of our time. Some of today's objects-symbols to which mythological meanings have been given are the car, the television, the computer or the cell phone. Nowadays, these devices are more than just things to shape a person's environment. Being an addition to his environment, they often become an end in themselves.
By painting them in compositions where people are in an overriding role, interacting with each other, I change their utilitarian activities, serving a now more interesting and better reality.
The formal means used are to emphasize the idea of the message. I use strong color and also contrast in stable and jittery planes. The structure of the paintings is open to multiple approaches to the figurative-painting problem.
You can also see the variety of the applied method of expression in the form of combining distant events into new, fantastic scenes, as well as the introduction of painterly structures and textures on the surface of the canvas. The optimistic content of my work, combined with the methods of artistic expression, strive to indicate positive emotional states. Most important for me is the expression of rebellion against hypocrisy, changing stereotypes, Promethean struggle for values, humor and love.
Krzysztof Skarbek
