Iza Staręga - Face to face

About the exhibition:

Look at my face

Our face, our face is a mirror of emotions, and apparently also a mirror of the soul. We trust others because by looking them in the face, looking into their eyes, we convince ourselves to the other person. This is especially important today, when our faces are so often covered. Someone who does not show the face, whose features, smile or reaction we cannot follow becomes anonymous to us, sometimes even objectified. The language knows many idioms showing how important the face of another person is to us. We say "honest face", we take responsibility by being "face to face", we call for someone to "look in the face" and boldly tell the truth, something is "good for us" or "we lose face" if we have become disgraced. 

The face is also a carrier of our individuality, our features. Today we take a selfie and remember the faces of our loved ones through photography. In the past, this function was performed by a portrait created by the artist's hand. There were made small miniatures of loved ones, which we wore painted with enamel on the chest. Galleries of ancestors were created, not only those with realistic faces, but also imaginary ones, emphasizing the nobility and antiquity of the family. We painted the faces of national heroes on small utility items, such as cups, caskets and snuff boxes. Every day we looked and prayed to the faces of saints in churches and at home altars. The human face has been with us for centuries and its role cannot be diminished.

This is one of the reasons why the art of Iza Staręga has focused on faces since its very beginning. The artist also creates strange flower arrangements and delicate, subtle abstractions, but the portrait is the most recognizable trend in her artistic output.

The faces painted by Iza are ideological portraits. I am often asked if they represent specific people. Sometimes, maybe there is a distant echo of inspiration from someone close to you. Generally, however, these are imaginary faces, the origin of which goes back to ancient painting. The artist is inspired by the icon, Coptic painting, and recently also 17th-century Dutch painting. The heroes of her works are mainly women, although there are exceptions. They include not only male faces, but also symbolic portraits, stripped of corporeality, reminding us of the passing and our mortality. 

Most of the works have a timeless reflection, a contemplative attitude towards life and the reflectiveness of nature, but they do not bear sadness. Some of Iza's characters present themselves in a non-obvious way. Their small attributes give rise to some anxiety, or at least make you wonder. They are strong women who have gone through something in their lives, but passed with great dignity and power. They can be an inspiration for us. Others dissolve ethereally in space. The pictures depicting them seem to be sketches, but they are not. They are finished compositions which the artist uses to communicate the delicacy and elusiveness of our soul. These works make a particularly strong impression because they build a tension between the ethereal nature of the representation and the strength of the technique used to create them. Iza Staręga has always painted with highly textured oils, in which she creates a contrast between smooth and rough surfaces. In this way, it allows the light to play and surround the images she creates with an extraordinary aura of mystery. It is also favored by a sophisticated color, which only sometimes reverberates with a stronger accent, but when it happens, we clearly feel the necessity, which the author has given this power of colors. 

Staręga's latest works are portraits of women, balancing between a look back into the world of old painting and museum portrait galleries in great palaces, and a galaxy of strong girls, which we see not only on fashion catwalks, but above all on political stands and at the head of large companies. The secret of Iza Staręga's painting is that her paintings are at the same time timeless, embedded in history and absolutely up-to-date. It is magic that allows time to be permanently enchanted.

- Agnieszka Gniotek

Iza Staręga (born in 1964) - Graduated from the Institute of Artistic Education at the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin. Diploma in the studios of prof. Marian Stelmasik and Mikołaj Smoczyński realized in 1991 a scholarship holder of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage and the Mayor of Siedlce. Author of many individual exhibitions, including: Kont Gallery, Lublin (1990); Arsenal Gallery, Poznań (1995); Dom Pracy Twórczej Reymontówka, Chlewiska (1999, 2005, 2009, 2014); Regional Museum in Siedlce (2002); DAP Mazowiecka Gallery, Warsaw (2004); Farbiarnia Gallery, Warsaw (2006); Berdyczów City Gallery, Ukraine (2007); Critics Gallery Show, Warsaw (2010); Porto Praga, Warsaw (2010); Kultura Gallery, Siedlce (2013); Atu Gallery, Lublin (2013); Gallery of the Center for Culture and Art in Siedlce (2016); Xanadu Gallery, Warsaw (2017), Gallery "Water Tower" CKiS in Konin (2017), Xanadu Gallery, Warsaw (2018).