KASIA KMITA'S PORTRAIT STUDIO 2022
Krupa Gallery & Concordia Design
March - May 2022
Wroclaw
A temporary studio of Wrocław artist Kasia Kmita, open to the public, will be arranged in the Concordia Design Wrocław building, a popular meeting place for Wrocław residents, as early as spring 2022.
As part of the project organized by Krupa Gallery, Kmita will be working on a series of portraits of contemporary Wrocław residents created using the traditional paper cut-out technique.
En face. En trois quart. En pied. Marriage portraits, group portraits or self-portraits - with its diversity due to the depiction of the figure, the circumstances of its creation or the technique of its execution, the portrait is one of the oldest types of representational painting, from which, over the centuries, we could draw a lot of information about our ancestors: how they lived, what they were interested in and even - what diseases plagued them.
Commissioning a portrait from a well-known artist was once a way to show one's status, membership in a particular social class and a method to ensure immortality. We are familiar with famous depictions of rulers, scholars and members of the elite, as well as more intimate portrait shots in which artists immortalized images of people from their circle, other artists, friends and family members.
During the pandemic, in 2020, the Wroclaw-based artist Kasia Kmita launched a project called "Portrait Workshop". "Portrait Workshop": anyone interested could send the artist a photo of themselves, based on which Kmita, using the cut-out technique, would make a portrait, which she would then publish on a specially created profile on Instagram.
Today, when the pandemic restrictions are slowly disappearing, the artist can turn to the methods of traditional live work with the model. The lack of virtual distance and the barrier of the screen glass allows a better look at the model, understanding his character and personification.
Kasia Kmita's Portrait Studio 2022 is a project that will be implemented with the participation of Wroclaw residents.
In the space of the Concordia Design Wrocław building, on Słodowa Island, a portrait studio open to the public will be arranged for a period of two months, in which Kasia Kmita will make portraits of visitors. These will include both well-known figures and those of merit to the culture of Wroclaw, as well as people who have previously applied to participate in the project.
Kasia Kmita often portrays figures from her environment: artists, curators, journalists, but also randomly met people. Like the old masters of painting, Kmita focuses on rendering not only the likeness of a given person, but also capturing their character and the social context in which they move. He depicts his models with their accompanying attributes, taking care to capture the details of their attire or manner. Thus, he creates a portrait not only of the person in question, but also of the times in which he lives, the customs and trends he follows.
The works created as a result of the Kasi Kmita 2022 Portrait Studio project will comprise a collective portrait of contemporary Wroclaw residents, which will reflect the character of the city and its inhabitants and, we hope, in the future, will inform our posterity about the life of Wroclaw in the '20s of the 21st century.
The project will be accompanied by educational activities: workshops for children and adults, as well as curatorial tours and meetings with the artist.
More information about the schedule and opportunities to participate will appear soon on the Krupa Gallery website.
Organizer: Krupa Gallery
Partner: Concordia Design Wrocław
Location: Concordia Design Wrocław, Wyspa Słodowa 7
Curator: Anna Stec
KASIA KMITA
Kasia Kmita (born 1972) studied at the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Fine Arts in Wroclaw. She received her diploma in painting in 1996.
Kasia Kmita's work primarily uses the meticulously refined form of the traditional cut-out. In her works, the artist includes observations on the latest trends, lifestyles and urban everyday life with its relatively new, but already ingrained traditions in our culture. She carefully observes the transformations taking place in society and analyzes the desires and mechanisms governing human behavior. Combining elements of Polish folklore with symbols of pop culture, Kasia Kmita's works create a colorful portrait of modernity.
He lives and works in Wroclaw.
