Maciej Urbaniak
Maciej Urbaniak:
Born in Krakow. He swapped a big town bustle for the peace of a village garden, and that is why he lives in Modlnica nearby Krakow.
He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow in 1990. It was the name of the Alma Mater which has become the motto of his painting.
Maciej Urbaniak’s pictures are decorative, full of colors, made in the system of mosaic discipline. With its magic charm and flickering ornament, they arouse interest; yet, an underlying expression of those pictures will confirm everyone in their belief in deeply embedded and intriguing provocation.
He has participated in many exhibitions, both individual and collective. He continues to collaborate with galleries in Poland and abroad, and his works can be found in many private collections.
Selected exhibitions:
| 1990 | Herbert Huber Art Gallery, Hamburg, Germany |
| 1991 | Pod Różą Art Gallery, Krakow, Poland, Rack Art Gallery, Nuremberg, Germany |
| 1992 | Art Libre Gallery, Paris, France Consulate General of the Republic of Poland, New York, USA |
| 1993 | Aux Portes de L’art Art Gallery, Moret, France Maximilian Art Gallery, Ansbach, Germany |
| 1994 | Va-Va Gallery, Warsaw, Poland Gallery Asteion, Tokyo, Japan |
| 1995 | Bon Ton Art Gallery, Vienna, Austria International Art Fair SIAC’95, Strasbourg, France Kunst Messe, FESPO’95, Zurych, Switzerland |
| 1996 | Ars Longa Art Gallery, Paris, France |
| 1998 | The Katarzyna Napiórkowska Art Gallery, Warsaw, Poland Gallery V, Wehrden, Germany |
| 1999 | Paulus Art Gallery, Hamburg, Germany The Katarzyna Napiórkowska Art Gallery, Warsaw, Poland |
| 2000 | Bram Art Gallery, Hobro, Denmark Totem Art Gallery, Uppsala, Sweden |
| 2001 | The Albemarle Gallery, London, Great Britain |
| 2002 | Paulus Art Gallery, Hamburg, Germany |
| 2004 | Kogen Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan |
| 2005 | Gallery Asteion, Tokyo, Japan Dr. Kupser Art Gallery, Ansbach, Germany |
| 2006 | Gallery de Dilht, The Hague, the Netherlands Asteion Gallery, Tokyo, Japan |
| 2007 | The Katarzyna Napiórkowska Art Gallery, Warsaw, Poland |
| 2008 | Asteion Gallery, Tokyo, Japan |
| 2009 | Irok Gallery, Horst, the Netherlands |
| 2011 | The New Form Gallery, Trelleborg, Sweden |
| 2012 | Asteion Gallery, Tokyo, Japan Gallery Mentana, Firenze, Italy |
| 2013 | Vauxhall Gallery, Krzeszowice, Poland |
Maciej Urbaniak
100 x 81 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
92 x 73 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
100 x 50 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
73 x 92 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
100 x 50 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
81 x 100 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
81 x 100 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
65 x 81 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
81 x 65 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
92 x 73 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
81 x 65 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
73 x 92 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
100 x 50 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
100 x 50 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
100 x 70 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
80 x 40 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
100 x 50 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
92 x 73 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
73 x 92 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
81 x 100 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
81 x 100 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
92 x 73 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
100 x 50 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
73 x 92 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
92 x 73 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
80 x 80 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
100 x 50 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
73 x 92 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
73 x 92 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
100 x 81 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
81 x 65 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
100 x 120 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
73 x 92 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
73 x 92 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
81 x 65 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
73 x 92 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
81 x 65 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
81 x 100cm
Maciej Urbaniak
65 x 81 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
100 x 120cm
Maciej Urbaniak
70 x 100 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
110 X 85 CM
Maciej Urbaniak
65 X 75 CM
Maciej Urbaniak
70 x 70 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
120 x 160 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
81 x 100 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
73 x 92 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
81 x 100 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
40 x 50 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
80 x 80 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
70 x 70 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
40 x 100cm
Maciej Urbaniak
50 x 60 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
50 x 60 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
50 x 60 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
60 x 150 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
45 x 50 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
73 x 92 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
81 x 100 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
65 x 81 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
65 x 92 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
81 x 100cm
Maciej Urbaniak
100 x 140 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
60 x 70 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
65 x 81 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
50x 60 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
81 x 65 cm
Maciej Urbaniak:
Born in Krakow. He swapped a big town bustle for the peace of a village garden, and that is why he lives in Modlnica nearby Krakow.
He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow in 1990. It was the name of the Alma Mater which has become the motto of his painting.
Maciej Urbaniak’s pictures are decorative, full of colors, made in the system of mosaic discipline. With its magic charm and flickering ornament, they arouse interest; yet, an underlying expression of those pictures will confirm everyone in their belief in deeply embedded and intriguing provocation.
He has participated in many exhibitions, both individual and collective. He continues to collaborate with galleries in Poland and abroad, and his works can be found in many private collections.
Selected exhibitions:
| 1990 | Herbert Huber Art Gallery, Hamburg, Germany |
| 1991 | Pod Różą Art Gallery, Krakow, Poland, Rack Art Gallery, Nuremberg, Germany |
| 1992 | Art Libre Gallery, Paris, France Consulate General of the Republic of Poland, New York, USA |
| 1993 | Aux Portes de L’art Art Gallery, Moret, France Maximilian Art Gallery, Ansbach, Germany |
| 1994 | Va-Va Gallery, Warsaw, Poland Gallery Asteion, Tokyo, Japan |
| 1995 | Bon Ton Art Gallery, Vienna, Austria International Art Fair SIAC’95, Strasbourg, France Kunst Messe, FESPO’95, Zurych, Switzerland |
| 1996 | Ars Longa Art Gallery, Paris, France |
| 1998 | The Katarzyna Napiórkowska Art Gallery, Warsaw, Poland Gallery V, Wehrden, Germany |
| 1999 | Paulus Art Gallery, Hamburg, Germany The Katarzyna Napiórkowska Art Gallery, Warsaw, Poland |
| 2000 | Bram Art Gallery, Hobro, Denmark Totem Art Gallery, Uppsala, Sweden |
| 2001 | The Albemarle Gallery, London, Great Britain |
| 2002 | Paulus Art Gallery, Hamburg, Germany |
| 2004 | Kogen Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan |
| 2005 | Gallery Asteion, Tokyo, Japan Dr. Kupser Art Gallery, Ansbach, Germany |
| 2006 | Gallery de Dilht, The Hague, the Netherlands Asteion Gallery, Tokyo, Japan |
| 2007 | The Katarzyna Napiórkowska Art Gallery, Warsaw, Poland |
| 2008 | Asteion Gallery, Tokyo, Japan |
| 2009 | Irok Gallery, Horst, the Netherlands |
| 2011 | The New Form Gallery, Trelleborg, Sweden |
| 2012 | Asteion Gallery, Tokyo, Japan Gallery Mentana, Firenze, Italy |
| 2013 | Vauxhall Gallery, Krzeszowice, Poland |
ALICJA SŁABOŃ-URBANIAK
Born in Krakow. Nowadays, she lives and works in Modlnica, a village situated nearby Krakow. In 1988, she graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. For her diploma work she was awarded a medal and an honorable mention.
Since her graduation, she has been dealing continuously with artistic work. By practicing easel painting, she has developed her unique, recognizable style that consists in having the space simplified and flattened, which sometimes brings back to mind naive painting or primitive art, but always endowed with a diversity of colors and textures. Nevertheless, her ease of using the techniques and a masterly sense of colors will leave no doubts that she must be a professional artist.
Her considerable artistic achievements have been presented at many exhibitions, both individual and collective. She continues to collaborate with galleries in Poland and abroad.
The works of this artist can be found in museum and private collections in Japan, USA, Scandinavia, Germany, and France and at the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Berlin.
Selected exhibitions
| 1990 | Pod Różą Art Gallery, Krakow, Poland Rack Art Gallery, Nuremberg, Germany |
| 1991 | Art Libre Gallery, Paris, France The Consulate General of the Republic of Poland, New York, USA |
| 1992 | Aux portes de l’art Gallery, Moret, France Barbara Krennmayer Art Gallery, Linz, Austria Maxymillian Art Gallery, Ansbach, Germany |
| 1993 | Va-Va Art Gallery, Warsaw, Poland |
| 1994 | Gallery Asteion , Tokyo, Japan |
| 1995 | Bon Ton Art Gallery, Vienna, Austria Kunst Messe FESPO’95, Zurych, Switzerland International Art Fair Siac’95, Strasbourg, France |
| 1996 | Voonoase Center, Zwolle, the Netherlands Bon Ton Art Gallery, Vienna, Austria. |
| 1997 | De Dilht Art Gallery, The Hague, the Netherlands |
| 1998 | The Katarzyna Napiórkowska Art Gallery, Warsaw, Poland Gallery V, Wehrden, Germany |
| 1999 | The Katarzyna Napiórkowska Art Gallery, Warsaw, Poland |
| 2000 | Bram Art Gallery, Hobro, Denmark Gallery Asteion, Tokyo, Japan. |
| 2001 | The Albemarle Gallery, London, Great Britain Art Fair, Hering, Denmark |
| 2002 | Bram Art Gallery, Hobro, Denmark The Katarzyna Napiórkowska Art Gallery, Warsaw, Poland |
| 2003 | Dr. Kupser Gallery, Ansbach, Germany Gallery Asteion, Tokyo, Japan |
| 2004 | ART-BV Gallery, Apeldoorn, the Netherlands Art Fair, Copenhagen, Denmark |
| 2005 | Will Corp Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan |
| 2006 | Gallery Asteion, Tokyo, Japan. |
| 2007 | The Katarzyna Napiórkowska Art Gallery, Warsaw, Poland |
| 2008 | The Oriel Gallery, Dublin, Ireland Bram Art Gallery, Hobro, Denmark |
| 2009 | Art Fair, Copenhagen, Denmark Gallery Asteion, Tokyo, Japan |
| 2010 | Irok Gallery, Horst, the Netherlands |
| 2011 | Kersten Art Gallery, Krakow, Poland The UD Downtown, Art of Poland, Knoxville, USA |
| 2012 | Gallery Mentana, Firenze, Italy |
| 2013 | Vauxhall Gallery, Krzeszowice, Poland |
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
92 x 73 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
81 x 100 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
81 x 100 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
73x92cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
81 x 65 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
115 x 140 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
70 x 100cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
65 x 81 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
92 x 73 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
65 x 81 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
81 x 100 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
81 x 100cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
92 x 73 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
81 x 100 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
70 x 110 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
81 x 100 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
81 x 100 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
50 x 100 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
70 x 70 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
81 x 100 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
70 x 70 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
120 x 100 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
70 x 70 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
80 x 80 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
180 x 260 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
81 x 92 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
65 x 81 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
65 x 81 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
40x50cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
50 x 40 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
50 x 60 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
65 x 81 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
30 x 40 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
65 x 81 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
65 x 81 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
81 x 100 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
50 x 100 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
100 x 140 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
73 x 92 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
70 x 100 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
91 x 130 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
60 x 60 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
60 x 60 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
60 x 60 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
80 x 80 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
60 x 60 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
60 x 60 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
50 x 50 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
70 x 70 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
60 x 50 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
81 x 100cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
70 x 100cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
81 x 65 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
50 x 50 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
65 x 81 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
81 x 65 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
65 x 81 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
50 x 120 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
81 x 100cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
40 x 80 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
80 x 100cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
70 x 50 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
81 x 100 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
100 x 120 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
100 x 81 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
100 x 81 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
100 x 81 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
92 x 73 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
100 x 70 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
100 x 80 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
81 x 100cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
50 x 70 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
100 x 50 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
100 x 50 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
100 x 50 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
100 x 140 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
100 x 120 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
100 x 81 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
100 x 81 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
100 x 81 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
100 x 70 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
80 x 80 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
65 x 81 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
65 x 81 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
50 x 50cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
50 x 50 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
50 x 50 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
40 x 40 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
30 x 120 cm
ALICJA SŁABOŃ-URBANIAK
Born in Krakow. Nowadays, she lives and works in Modlnica, a village situated nearby Krakow. In 1988, she graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. For her diploma work she was awarded a medal and an honorable mention.
Since her graduation, she has been dealing continuously with artistic work. By practicing easel painting, she has developed her unique, recognizable style that consists in having the space simplified and flattened, which sometimes brings back to mind naive painting or primitive art, but always endowed with a diversity of colors and textures. Nevertheless, her ease of using the techniques and a masterly sense of colors will leave no doubts that she must be a professional artist.
Her considerable artistic achievements have been presented at many exhibitions, both individual and collective. She continues to collaborate with galleries in Poland and abroad.
The works of this artist can be found in museum and private collections in Japan, USA, Scandinavia, Germany, and France and at the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Berlin.
Selected exhibitions
| 1990 | Pod Różą Art Gallery, Krakow, Poland Rack Art Gallery, Nuremberg, Germany |
| 1991 | Art Libre Gallery, Paris, France The Consulate General of the Republic of Poland, New York, USA |
| 1992 | Aux portes de l’art Gallery, Moret, France Barbara Krennmayer Art Gallery, Linz, Austria Maxymillian Art Gallery, Ansbach, Germany |
| 1993 | Va-Va Art Gallery, Warsaw, Poland |
| 1994 | Gallery Asteion , Tokyo, Japan |
| 1995 | Bon Ton Art Gallery, Vienna, Austria Kunst Messe FESPO’95, Zurych, Switzerland International Art Fair Siac’95, Strasbourg, France |
| 1996 | Voonoase Center, Zwolle, the Netherlands Bon Ton Art Gallery, Vienna, Austria. |
| 1997 | De Dilht Art Gallery, The Hague, the Netherlands |
| 1998 | The Katarzyna Napiórkowska Art Gallery, Warsaw, Poland Gallery V, Wehrden, Germany |
| 1999 | The Katarzyna Napiórkowska Art Gallery, Warsaw, Poland |
| 2000 | Bram Art Gallery, Hobro, Denmark Gallery Asteion, Tokyo, Japan. |
| 2001 | The Albemarle Gallery, London, Great Britain Art Fair, Hering, Denmark |
| 2002 | Bram Art Gallery, Hobro, Denmark The Katarzyna Napiórkowska Art Gallery, Warsaw, Poland |
| 2003 | Dr. Kupser Gallery, Ansbach, Germany Gallery Asteion, Tokyo, Japan |
| 2004 | ART-BV Gallery, Apeldoorn, the Netherlands Art Fair, Copenhagen, Denmark |
| 2005 | Will Corp Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan |
| 2006 | Gallery Asteion, Tokyo, Japan. |
| 2007 | The Katarzyna Napiórkowska Art Gallery, Warsaw, Poland |
| 2008 | The Oriel Gallery, Dublin, Ireland Bram Art Gallery, Hobro, Denmark |
| 2009 | Art Fair, Copenhagen, Denmark Gallery Asteion, Tokyo, Japan |
| 2010 | Irok Gallery, Horst, the Netherlands |
| 2011 | Kersten Art Gallery, Krakow, Poland The UD Downtown, Art of Poland, Knoxville, USA |
| 2012 | Gallery Mentana, Firenze, Italy |
| 2013 | Vauxhall Gallery, Krzeszowice, Poland |
Maciej Urbaniak
105 x 50 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
77 x 104 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
73 x 92 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
65 x 90 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
65 x 81 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
55 x 75 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
55 x 70 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
50 x 110 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
50 x 70 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
50 x 65 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
45 x 55 cm
Maciej Urbaniak
40 x 80 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
85 x 110 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
81 x 100 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
80 x 60 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
70 x 50 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
65 x 85 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
65 x 80 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
60 x 70 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
60 x 50 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
50 x 40 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
40 x 30 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
30 x 45 cm
Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
20 x 30 cm
Painting is just about the oldest and the most beautiful form of extra-verbal communication among people. As valuable is music, but its oldest form – which used to accompany the primitive man – has not survived because it was impossible to have it recorded.
Instead, breath-taking paintings on cave rocks astonish us with the efficiency of technique, unusual gift for observation and with a concise way of thinking of an artist living centuries ago who gave an account of animals and plants and who recounted the erstwhile world.
And so on for another centuries painting used to describe the history and to commemorate human emotions.
And the same is today. We keep on expressing our opinions with drawings, stain or symbols, which for us, painters, is fascinating and important.
Painting is an eternal learning, exceptionally interesting and absorbing, which allows us – makers – to go on looking for new solutions. Sometimes, this process of artistic production and searching can be more valuable and interesting for us then the final effect. The very term of ‘final effect’ is not correct, either, because it will happen from time to time that after a few years we will come back to canvases already finished, we may paint them over or change being entirely convinced that it is better now.
Plein air painting events are a very valuable experience for a painter who works by himself/ herself in which case the studio space demarcates a safe, comfortable place, full of reverie. After a long time passed from our graduation, we are again with people who have the same assignment allocated to them. They have to describe the surrounding reality as one may deem appropriate. In such new circumstances, there will be someone who does not wish and is not able to seclude oneself so as to work at his/her own pace. But this time is never lost.
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Visiting Japan had long been our dearest wish, which we fulfilled when we had our individual exhibition in the Asteion Gallery in Tokyo. There we could see a different, futuristic face of Asia. Tokyo overwhelms and overpowers with its vastness and the speed of life. Difficult as it was to find our imagined old Japan in a penetrating architectonic tissue, none the less we found our way into a rice shop that witnessed the times of samurais.
The exhibition itself was a great feast for us and the guests of the gallery. That is amazing that the paintings that are created in our studio arouse such interest among people living in a different culture and tradition. Itâs the artistâs duty, hence, to get to know these cultures, habits and beliefs, as it helps to build a universal language of art, comprehensible to all people.
Vernissage – The Katarzyna Napiórkowska ART Gallery
Irok Gallery, Horst, Netherlands, art exhibition by Alicja, Maciej and Roch
Kersten Gallery – vernissage of exhibition by Alicja Słaboń-Urbaniak
Alicji Słaboń-Urbaniak w Galerii Kersten
Irok Gallery, Horst, Netherlands, art exhibition by Alicja, Maciej and Roch
Exhibition in Palace Vauxhall gallery in Krzeszowice 04.10.2013
The dreams of new, amazing and distinguished places have led us to Nepal and India. We have been enchanted by the abundance of cultures, colours and aromas. We will always cherish the memories of monks spinning prayer wheels next to the stupa at Boudhanath in the Kathmandu Valley and an encounter with little Absana selling souvenirs in the dusty streets of medieval Bakthapur. The view of a holy Hindu city of Varanasi, the oldest pilgrimage place in the world, was an absolutely mystical experience that touched the internal sacrum. On the banks of the river Ganges the ritual of life and death has been unremittingly taking place for centuries. The holy river mixes flowers with the human remains.
However hard it may be to draw inspiration for painting from such encounters, what we have experienced in Nepal and India has undoubtedly enriched our imagination and sensitivity.
And so again we decided to turn our dreams into reality, this time by travelling to the most spirituals and mystical part of Asia, located on the Roof of the World.
Amongst the deep and inaccessible valleys of the Himalayas lies the magic kingdom of Bhutan.
A place almost completely isolated from the rest of the world where life goes slowly and is thoroughly subordinate to rules of Lamaistic Buddhism.
There are very few places like this left. Places where nature is still intact, and where all of everyday matters, from the life of the individual to the foundations of the state are all set by religion.
Bhutan has recently opened its borders to the visitors and tourists, giving the opportunity to see the fascinating traditional customs, religious rituals and behold the extraordinary architecture and art.
This little exceptional country enchants us with the colors of clothing, abundance of monuments, hospitability of its inhabitants and their deep spirituality.
We can only hope that they will preserve their traditions and cultural individuality for as long as possible, before the âblessingsâ of our civilization will suffice all the needs of their souls and minds
Tibet obviously associated with the clearest form of Buddhism and Lhassa â the sacred city of Dalai lamas is the destination for an uncountable mass/crowd of pilgrims, who circle around the Potala Palace in harmony with the movement of the sun. It is their pilgrimage in search of spiritual enlightenment.
One can read a lot about Tibet. But unless you go there you cannot truly experience it. To see the vastness and sublimity of the landscape, the might of the rugged and stark nature which contrasts with unparalleled finesse of ornamental decorations in monasteries. Only there and only in such a contrast it is possible to truly feel the idea of human longing for balance with the sacrum.
The monumental Potala Palace, the highest situated palace in the world, city-size monasteries, innumerable golden figures of gods and their incarnations, the silent hum of praying pilgrims, thousands of small oil lamps and the smell of incenses. Staying in Tibet moves us deeply and can leave one completely dazed.
But to be honest what is most shocking thing about the land of Dalai lamas is the ruthless politics of China. Politics of conquest and repression towards Tibet. Old Lhassa has been demolished and replaced with an ugly city, full of factories, terrible propaganda monuments in honor of Chinese âliberatorsâ and streets overloaded with plastic adverts. Made in China.
Native Tibetans are currently minority in their own country, and Buddhist monasteries, the last stand of Tibetan heritage, places once vibrant with activity have been brutally transformed into sad, depressive and empty museums.
The might of the old Tibet fascinates us, but this Tibet is long gone. Nowadays Tibet is a realm of forced transformations, crushed gods and humiliated people.
urbaniak@urbaniak.krakow.pl
tel. kom.:
608 628 177 Alicja
608 343 598 Maciej
We also recommend www.rochurbaniak.pl
