Halina Marki
BORN: GERMANY
EDUCATION: PHILADELPHIA, CRACOW,
AND WARSAW ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS
RESIDENCE: NEW YORK 1982-2019
CURRENT STUDIO: HOLLYWOOD ARTIST LOFTS, FLORIDA
The enigma of human existence is the pivotal subject of my paintings. Beginning with the basics of a line, a plane, perspective, and color- my intent is to layer meaning with possibility, combining the human element of free will and it’s the relationship to time and space. I try to make sense of implied chaos needing to be sorted through. Words that come to mind are an organism, space, molecule, gene string. Often using the symbol of a figure or zygote, my intention is to suggest its relationship with the cessation of life and its rebirth. Juxtaposing abstract patterns with realistic images or symbols reveals the interconnectedness of abstraction with realism, expressionism with precision, and chaos with order.
Lysik
BORN: POLAND
EDUCATION: WARSAW ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS
RESIDENCE: NEW YORK 1982-2019
CURRENT STUDIO: HOLLYWOOD ARTIST LOFTS, FLORIDA
The Portals & Trenches series features visual symbols of communication—alphabets, numerals—that are portals to understanding different languages, religions, and cultures. I paint the network of crisscrossing trenches created by nature and man, which exist in the material world as well as the subconscious. I often represent rising threats in my works—violence, weapons. As the subject matter becomes more dangerous, my pictorial lines, or trenches, become more predatory, deeper, more aggressive, running to one or more vanishing points. These trenches are safety stops before the next act of aggression. They run through or past portals—portals of hope, of civilization. Art captures the present moment. When I complete a painting, it is no longer “mine;” it belongs to the past. I live in the present. My newest painting is always closest to me—communicating my emotions and reactions to what is happening in the world around me. I’m living in the trenches looking for the portal.