19 February - 17 March 2011
Greenwich Theatre Foyer Gallery,
Crooms Hill
London SE10 8ES
FREE
CALTHA (Karolina Brzozowska b.1979) is a Warsaw based artist who creates unique jewellery and drawings. Her works are deeply evocative in their almost child-like fairytale simplicity which is tainted with macabre undertones of lost innocence, isolation and shadowy mind images. Caltha's unrestrained imagination easily translates to her favorite medium; grey lead pencil drawings, demonstrating the dichotomy of irrational mindscapes juxtaposed against the harshness of reality. The characters that inhabit her work look pained, yet their beautifully anguished faces ambivalently reflect detachment and despondence.
CALTHA exhibited her works for the 2010 Made in Poland Festival, in Newcastle upon Tyne. This year, from the 19th February London audiences will be able to enjoy CALTHA’s work at the Greenwich Theatre Foyer Gallery. Before flying out to her London exhibition we caught up with the artist in Warsaw. We asked her about her work and in particular where she draws her inspiration from.
Why do you draw?
I’ve been drawing for longer than I can clearly remember. Foremost it is some sort of inner need. I think that partially it is the need to express emotions, the pouring out of things on paper that cannot or should not be expressed in other ways. Maybe that’s why there is so much sadness and nostalgia in my work, whereas on an everyday level I am a rather cheerful and optimistic sort of a person.
Generally how do other people perceive your work?
My drawings were not greatly appreciated by my teachers and other ‘experts’, despite this I can see that they hit a spot with a lot of people. I think that, in my work, people find moods and feelings which they can relate to. I in turn do not provide any interpretation, I don’t offer descriptions of my drawings, as any description would only be one of many possible stories and interpretations.
How would you describe your drawings?
I encounter opinions that my drawings are sad, bleak and pessimistic. It is possible that this is exactly what they are. Not everyone has to like them, yet the esthetic in which I draw speaks to me the most. However, I don’t avoid optimistic accents and I hope that an astute observer is able to find them.
What inspires you to draw?
In some way I’m inspired by everything that I experience, places and people I encounter. Sometimes inspiration comes from situations and emotions which I’m going through at the given moment, at times they are viewed from the perspective of time, frequently they are very personal. I encounter the opinion that I exclusively draw self-portraits. In some sense this is true.
The event is organized by Pan Peter Art Co and supported by the Polish Cultural Institute in London and Greenwich Theatre
CALTHA’s portfolio of work can be viewed at caltha-art.prv.pl