Barbara Kucharska
The title of the exhibition itself captures attention, suggesting the naturalness and unpretentiousness that nature exudes. And indeed, Barbara Kucharska’s paintings breathe picturesque tranquility and silence, which we long for. Green spaces, sandy stretches of beaches, the vastness of the sea, mountain ranges set a gentle contemplative mood and bring solace. Yet, there is also a subtle breeze of eternity that stimulates reflection on a much deeper level, inviting contemplation of the very creation of the world. Underneath each painting, there is a carefully chosen quote from the Holy Scripture, affirming our belief that all these artistic representations, according to the artist’s intention (and not only hers), are created under the heavens by the hands of the Creator.
I had the pleasure of attending both the opening and the closing of the exhibition, and thanks to the diverse musical setting, both artistic events formed cohesive entities on their own. During the exhibition opening, we had the opportunity to listen to the band Ahawa, who are friends with the painter. The band consisted of Elżbieta Kałużna (vocal, piano), Paweł Łysiak (vocal, drums), and Barbara Kucharska (flute). Yes, that’s right, the flutist was also the author of the „Kreatura” art exhibition presented in the Art Salon. Ahawa’s performance filled the space with joyful and thankful psalms praising God, which perfectly correlated with the themes depicted on the walls in the form of paintings.
During the closing event, the artist, painter, and flutist were accompanied by Yurii Pshenychnyi, a musician from Ukraine, who played the guitar and a very intriguing instrument with an original name – baglama, which is 500 years old. His wife, Alona, accompanied him on percussion instruments.
From Yurii’s stories, we learned that unlike the guitar, which relies on tones and semitones, the baglama possesses a multitude of shades, sounding in between, thereby expanding the range of expressed emotions during the performance. It also allows for the „winning” of space and the steppe wind, which are characteristic of Ukraine.
The almost melodious sound of the baglama blended perfectly with the verses of the late poet Katarzyna Kado, who had her poetic evening at „Kreatura” a few years ago. Mecenas Andrzej Maciejewski wanted to commemorate both her person and her work in this way. And since he asked me somewhat „ad hoc” to help him with this poetic presentation, I felt as if two worlds, the visible and the invisible, were intertwining. After all, I had not encountered this author’s poetry before, and at the closing event, I was able to lend my voice to her poems. We read works from two collections by Kado: „Niedługo wzejdą przebiśniegi” and „Cienkie linie życia.” The poems harmonized splendidly with the emanation of Barbara Kucharska’s works, and thus, in the intimate company of attentive guests, a breath of transcendence reappeared once again.
Maria Magdalena Pocgaj
I would describe Basia’s paintings as interesting, pleasing in terms of colors. When one day I learned that a leading gallery in Sopot hosted an exhibition of Basia’s paintings, I decided that my presence as a resident of the Tri-City was simply mandatory. I went to the exhibition alone. I shared my first impressions with myself and God alone. I recounted this unusual and very intimate meeting with Basia’s art many times since then. I remember it very clearly.
That day I saw all the exhibitions of various artists in the gallery, including Magdalena Abakanowicz. I appreciated the fact that Basi’s works were hanging in the company of famous authors of the world of art. They were hanging in the lobby, so everyone who entered the gallery could see them. The first painting I noticed moved me a lot. It reminded me of the landscape on the banks of the Vistula Lagoon, where, when I lived there for many years, I was delighted every day with the Vistula Spit visible on the horizon. Gazing at Basia’s painting, I had the impression that someone was telling my life story, that someone had written it down. This painting knew me. I couldn’t take my eyes off it. I had to convince myself that it would still be here later. I didn’t notice the title at first, only later did I discover that my world in Basia’s painting was called Synthesis.
I followed along. Excited, full of joyful awe, I needed the peace and confidence of knowing that I would have enough time to see everything. From grays, greens, blues – Basia will call this palette in her in her own terms – I moved into a world of butterflies, flowers, a whole range of colors. It was extraordinary. I felt like a child who found herself in the realm of toys. I smiled to myself. I admired the paintings, then discovered the titles given to them, amazed that they were what they were. In one of them, I stared at a seemingly solitary branch. I had a sense that it was me, though completely alone, yet not alone. I gained the space to breathe and shout everything out to God as it is. How amazed I was that the title of the painting was Space. I thought: someone here knows me! One of Basia’s more important paintings for me is titled Destiny. I saw the inevitable end of life and it was not frightening. On the contrary. Is it because death is not the end? Is this what Basia had in mind? I know she is not afraid of death. So I hoped that my interpretation of Destiny would please her! Each of the images made my heart beat harder. Before I set off to meet Synthesis again, I looked at all the paintings one more time, as if I wanted to say goodbye to them, and then I stared at my world again. Although I was no longer sure that Synthesis was the only painting in which my life had been written!
With difficulty, I left the gallery. Pensive, moved, I felt a tear on my cheek. I had the feeling that I was no longer the same person. In Basia’s paintings I found the unspeakable, that which I long after, that which is my own. And I wanted to share my impressions with everyone, so that they would have time to experience what I did. It was the penultimate day of the exhibition.
Does it matter that Basia prays while painting? Did it affect my perception of her paintings? For they are like a mirror of the soul, my soul. I keep the meeting at the gallery in my heart like a most precious treasure, like a jewel.
I first encountered Basia’s paintings in a cafe in Poznan. It was also one of the first meetings with Basia in general. She quickly became someone close, a sister in Christ, a friend. We started playing together in a Christian music band. Traveling, touring and praying together brought me great joy, and Basia, although so different from me, enriched my world.
I would describe Basia’s paintings as interesting, pleasing in terms of colors. When one day I learned that a leading gallery in Sopot hosted an exhibition of Basia’s paintings, I decided that my presence as a resident of the Tri-City was simply mandatory. I went to the exhibition alone. I shared my first impressions with myself and God alone. I recounted this unusual and very intimate meeting with Basia’s art many times since then. I remember it very clearly.
That day I saw all the exhibitions of various artists in the gallery, including Magdalena Abakanowicz. I appreciated the fact that Basi’s works were hanging in the company of famous authors of the world of art. They were hanging in the lobby, so everyone who entered the gallery could see them. The first painting I noticed moved me a lot. It reminded me of the landscape on the banks of the Vistula Lagoon, where, when I lived there for many years, I was delighted every day with the Vistula Spit visible on the horizon. Gazing at Basia’s painting, I had the impression that someone was telling my life story, that someone had written it down. This painting knew me. I couldn’t take my eyes off it. I had to convince myself that it would still be here later. I didn’t notice the title at first, only later did I discover that my world in Basia’s painting was called Synthesis.
I followed along. Excited, full of joyful awe, I needed the peace and confidence of knowing that I would have enough time to see everything. From grays, greens, blues – Basia will call this palette in her in her own terms – I moved into a world of butterflies, flowers, a whole range of colors. It was extraordinary. I felt like a child who found herself in the realm of toys. I smiled to myself. I admired the paintings, then discovered the titles given to them, amazed that they were what they were. In one of them, I stared at a seemingly solitary branch. I had a sense that it was me, though completely alone, yet not alone. I gained the space to breathe and shout everything out to God as it is. How amazed I was that the title of the painting was Space. I thought: someone here knows me! One of Basia’s more important paintings for me is titled Destiny. I saw the inevitable end of life and it was not frightening. On the contrary. Is it because death is not the end? Is this what Basia had in mind? I know she is not afraid of death. So I hoped that my interpretation of Destiny would please her! Each of the images made my heart beat harder. Before I set off to meet Synthesis again, I looked at all the paintings one more time, as if I wanted to say goodbye to them, and then I stared at my world again. Although I was no longer sure that Synthesis was the only painting in which my life had been written!
With difficulty, I left the gallery. Pensive, moved, I felt a tear on my cheek. I had the feeling that I was no longer the same person. In Basia’s paintings I found the unspeakable, that which I long after, that which is my own. And I wanted to share my impressions with everyone, so that they would have time to experience what I did. It was the penultimate day of the exhibition.
Does it matter that Basia prays while painting? Did it affect my perception of her paintings? For they are like a mirror of the soul, my soul. I keep the meeting at the gallery in my heart like a most precious treasure, like a jewel.
It seems that today’s world, crushed by its own hardship of life and the drama of individual fate, dominates the contemporary dimension of human existence, and thus culture, imposing its own values. But to our surprise, as the recipients of Barbara Kucharska’s painting art, we see idyllic, perfect, other-wordly spaces, although they are based on the observation of nature with the dominant element of a fixed, emerging, defined, colorful horizon. So what is the key to this art?
The artist creates the painterly structure of her landscapes in a confident yet restrained manner. She introduces smooth planes of surface, especially synthetic ones in the large formats of her canvases. She shows mastery of the art of acrylic paint in delicate contrasts, in calm juxtapositions of pastels and sweet hues of sunset, clouds, or the horizon. It seems that Barbara Kucharska’s paintings speak forth myths and legends, tales beyond the world of the ordinary, everyday life. This artistic attitude reveals the painter’s admiration for the divine feature of nature and the redemptive property of the very process of experiencing existence as joy and affirmation and awe for the Creator – God. The artist seems to emphasize the dominant role of God’s plan in the very work of life and the laws and factors eternally being recreated in nature and in established earthly landscapes, and at the same time, human participation in this process.
These paintings speak of miraculous, light and transparent natural situations, left untouched and unblemished by human existence. These paintings are undisturbed by human presence, they are pure emanations of „Pranature.” Perhaps it is a symbol or some fragment of the „Biblical Eden”. Thus, Barbara Kucharska tries to convey the „Ideas of Good” through the application of a warm color range which is pleasant to the viewer. In this way, by showing her majestic landscapes without the context of a human trace, she makes them universal and communicative to the potential participant of the current exhibition: „Melody of Landscape.” Perhaps the fact that the artist is also professionally involved in music and is a proficient flute player is a good clue for how her art should be received and interpreted. Certainly, Barbara Kucharska search for this harmony in the created and established biological world of nature, is influenced by her elemental love of music, the gentle and subtle dimension that is the practice of delicate sounds.
It is therefore gratifying to note in this presentation that, perhaps, through this very art, an „Artistic Theodicy” has in some sense been achieved. In and through the spiritual, tender and subtle experiences of the artist, they have become and are continually becoming impressions and inspirations for the theme of the landscape, integrating itself in an independent and uncompromising way, in a relationship of pure primordial creation and awe for that world. I think that the space of human culture may especially need this testimony nowadays, this devotion and the giving of hope, now that the drama and hardship of everyday life has dominated human life. They have also made man forget that life can be different. So, against the odds, he can build interpersonal bridges of understanding of self and especially of the natural world, of which Barbara Kucharska’s art is a praise.
Dr. Agnieszka Balewska 21.04.2015
Boundless waters, sandy beaches, blue skies, echoing mountains… Barbara Kucharska’s landscapes are poetic, they exude harmony and tranquillity, breathe hope, delight in lightness. But that’s not all, because as long as we can look further and not let ourselves be deceived by the superficial simplicity of the expression of the artist’s works, we will be able to encounter extraordinary depth. Depth understood in terms of the depth of the experience of beauty, but also the spiritual weight which is characteristic of Basia’s painting. The artist, through her art, enables the viewer to transcend physical reality into the incomprehensible and the spiritual. Her landscapes reveal the essence of the inexpressible. They are, so to speak, gates to transcendence, and by stepping through them we can touch the untouchable – the light, which in Barbara Kucharska’s paintings seems to be personal in nature. I would describe Basia’s paintings as strong in their message, because they are uncompromising, in line with the truths she professes and lives by. One of the art critics, Grzegorz Dziamski, wrote in his article entitled „From Art to Visual Culture”: „…everything can be art, everything can function as art.” I agree with this statement, at the same time adding that while art can be anything, it should not be morally corrupt. Unfortunately, it is impossible not to notice that the art of the current era increasingly seeks to cross boundaries and stir up controversy in society, in order to attract the attention of the modern man – often hungry for new, increasingly complex, intense impressions and experiences. However, not every artist succumbs to this tendency, and so their works are not created to pander to the public, but remain in harmony with the inner world of the creator. Undoubtedly, Barbara Kucharska can be numbered among these artists.