Martyna Baranowicz
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In Martyna Baranaowicz’s pictures and photographs, we see the protagonist in situations which might be called intimate if they were not so daring and uncompromising. The latter quality is manifested at the intersection of the story told and interventions in the visual form following the content, a form which is both refined and devoid of overaestheticization. The excellent painting technique, which no longer determines the value of a picture nowadays, is subordinated to a more important objective. The sophisticated colour and deliberate disruptions of familiar shapes, combined with the recurrent and meaningful motif of facial hair, suggest a different way of interpretation in each picture and refer to the historical fact of shaving the bodies of women suspected of witchcraft in order to rid them of their secret. Today we know what the secret was – inability or unwillingness to follow the stereotypical, imposed roles.
Baranowicz occasionally uses the realistic convention, brutally naturalistic in some of her works, with certain camp qualities in others. Even though the issues of normativity, sexuality and identity seem to be quite frequent in young art, Baranowicz appears to stand out here. In her work, such generational qualities as distance and sense of humour are blended with lack of coquetry and intellectual discipline. Her artistic heart and mind interact in alternating but always detectable tensions, often leading to – as the artist herself put it – a planned clash.
Domimika Kowynia
www.instagram.com/martyna__baranowicz
Education
- 2011 – 2017 Akademia Sztuk Pięknych w Gdańsku, Wydział Malarstwa
- 2017 Accademia di Brera, Mediolan
Individual Exhibitions
- 2019 Wszystko to będzie częścią wygód mej starości, Galeria Żak, Gdańsk
- 2018 Mogłam powiedzieć kim byłam dzisiaj rano, ale od tego czasu musiałam się zmienić wiele razy, Tajna Galeria, Gdańsk
- 2017 Pociągająca obecność, Kolonia Artystów, Gdańsk
Collective Exhibitions
- 2019 Triennale Polskiego Malarstwa Współczesnego – Jesienne Konfrontacje, Rzeszów
- 2019 Triennale Małych Form Malarskich, Galeria Sztuki Wozownia, Toruń
- 2019 Pole minowe, Bwa Sokół, Nowy Sącz
- 2018 Gdańskie Biennale Sztuki, Galeria Miejska Gdańsk
- 2018 Wpis ukończony, Zbrojownia Sztuki, Gdańsk
- 2017 Głęboka woda, Gdańska Galeria Miejska, Gdańsk
- 2016-14 Self-portaits, 5 Malunai Gallery, Wilno
- 2016 Erasmus students exhibition, Kościół San Corpoforo, Mediolan
- 2015 Spotkanie obrazów, Kilonia
- 2015 Noc, Noc muzeów w Akademii Sztuk Pięknych, Gdańsk