Małgorzata Kaczmarska POLISH LEISURE
“I remember that, when Małgorzata Kaczmarska sent me photos of paintings she was working on from her studio in Małopolska two years ago, I thought: who would paint surfers, when they are constantly filming themselves? At that time, her works seemed completely new to me, completely different, completely her own. Direct, snapshot, photography, painting – these are the terms that can be used to define her proposal, currently presented under the title POLISH HUMAN LANDSCAPE referring to free time, holidays, rest and recreation. That is, the time of carefree, imagination-stirring, relaxing meetings, in which her painting comes into contact with reality.
Summer memories penetrate under our skin. Mediterranean memories are filtered through closed eyelids, when the high sun becomes too bright and we try to see something through them. At some point we notice this inactive intimacy of closed eyes, aware that we do not see literally, paradoxically we perceive this filtered moment. Such afterimages, completely unobtrusive, give us time to think. We feel the salty smell and the sea breeze, we hear the sound of the waves and the wind, voices and laughter, which then merge to become light. They pass through the small black hole of the pupil like light and remain there, imprinted in the brain like an image. We return to reality with the image of this experience, presented in a way that is far from figurative. This is how I perceive Bathers at Asnières (1884) by Georges Seurat or his La Grande Jatte (1886), and Bridget Riley’s revealing reading of Seurat’s works in her collection of writings The Eye's Mind (1999). This is also how I perceive the characters in SUNBATHING IN THE PARK, PERKY BODIES, or ON THE GRASS / FIND THE DIFFERENCE (Kaczmarska, 2022), whom I can touch with the eyes of my skin (Pallasmaa, 2010), recording brushstrokes.” [translation by D. Wąsik]
Excerpt from the text "WHAT WE SEE LOOKS BACK AT US" by Professor Eugènia Agustí Camí, published in the catalog for the exhibition "POLISH LEISURE."
Exhibition venue: r_z Gallery / St. 3 maja 16, 35-030 Rzeszów (Poland)
Dates: September 20, 2025 – October 5, 2025
The opening took place on September 19, 2025 at 6:00 PM.
Exhibition curator: Katarzyna Cwynar
Exhibition organizers: Magdalena Uchman and Piotr Dawid Woroniec – ZPAP ORz
Poster and brochure designer: Mirosław Pawłowski
Catalog publisher: The Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław
Catalog released with the financial support of The Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław (2024).
MAŁGORZATA KACZMARSKA
Visual artist, academic lecturer and curator. She deals with painting, and experiments with video and installation media, including intermedia projects.
Born in Kraków (Poland), in 1999 she graduated with honours from the Faculty of Painting at the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. She is a professor at the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław, at the Faculty of Sculpture and Art Mediation.
Her paintings, video and digital works have been repeatedly awarded in international competitions and qualified for presentations. Her oeuvre she presented on sixteen solo shows in Poland and abroad.
Scholarship holder of the Ministerio Español de Asuntos Exteriores (creative scholarship in Spain) and Association BecomeBecome (artistic residence “Island of Consciousness” in Indonesia).
In 2023, she received the Award of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland for outstanding scientific and research achievements in the field of art.
She is a member of the Polish Artists’ Association, artistic group20minutes, and SPACE Start collective.
