Mikołaj Kowalski

Mikołaj Kowalski is an inquisitive artist, continually trying to redefine the essence and boundaries of painting and persistently reflecting on the ontology of an image.

On the one hand, firmly embedded in the tradition of the medium, he creates his works using paint (and wax) on wooden and canvas supports, but on the other – he experiments with the use of clock mechanisms, neon signs, laser or integrated circuits and various electrical devices, which broaden the range of the means of expression he uses.

In each of these areas, his works are characterized by a distinctive lightness of form suffused with discreet humour and a peculiar relationship with reality. His scope of interest includes chiefly the nature of this reality, from landscape, flora and fauna phenomena, peripheries of urban infrastructure, to observations of gallery viewers and pictures armed with electronic “senses”. However, the primary theme, consolidating all his earlier artistic output, is the question of time, the secret of its existence examined through the study of the effects of passing time on the matter and living world. Kowalski makes no needless gestures. His pictures contain only as much form as is necessary to carry the content they include.

Sławomir Toman

www.mikolajkowalski.pl