Kasia Turajczyk
Lyalls Cottage, Dunchideock, Exeter, EX6 7YD

http://gallery.kasiaturajczyk.com

Phone: 01392 833904

Established Dunchideock artist, Kasia Turajczyk will be inviting guests into her studio/local gallery to view her new work this year in the forthcoming county-wide arts event, Devon Open Studios.

It is the largest showcase for artists in the county and Kasia Turajczyk will be joining over 260 artists opening their doors for 16 days from 4th –19th of September. Kasia will be taking part for the first time and is looking forward to her contribution to the event held at her studio in the garden of Lyalls Cottage and her gallery within the cottage.

Kasia began painting as a child, and for her becoming a successful artist is the realization of a life-long passion. She has lived in several countries with different political systems; diverse cultures, different languages, peoples, and landscapes and that fact has had a big influence on her development and growth as an artist and as a person.

Kasia works in diverse fields of art: paintings, installations, collages, fantasy art and new media. When you visit her studio you will be able to see examples of such work, together with recent abstract and modern figurative collages with a hint of surrealism, inspired by the nature of Devon. Nature is also a source of raw materials for Kasia's art, which enables her to achieve some very interesting structural effects.

She will also be showing some new installations entitled Personalities, created from old CD’s, acrylics and recycled materials (weather permitting in the open air of the garden). Kasia will also be inviting her visitors to take part in the process of producing an installation. She will be providing such an environment during the Open Studio weeks to make it possible for visitors to work together with her, and to have the opportunity to talk to her directly about the creative process.

Kasia Turajczyk is looking forward to the show and hopes that Devon Open Studios will help raise her profile. In 2009 over 30,000 visits were recorded, an almost two fold increase from the year before. Free to the public, the event provides a unique chance to see a wide variety of new work.

Devon Open Studios produces a comprehensive guide to help visitors plan their own art trail and combine browsing art with enjoyment of the county’s fantastic scenery. Free copies of the guide are now available at tourist information centres, libraries, galleries, and hotels. The most prominent place in Dunchideock where the guide will be available is the well known Lord Haldon Hotel (10 minutes walk from Kasia Turajczyk’s studio -http://www.lordhaldonhotel.co.uk).

The Blueberrry Fantasy - acrylics on canvas

Metropolis and its heart, acrylics on canvas; 90cm x 90cm

I have been thinking for a long time about what constitutes the heart of the big city. What could it be? The technology and the evolutionary progress and development in the education of homo sapiens? Or our nature, the fact that we are sociable, a social and collective animal? However this is inconsistent with the reality – people who live in a small village or town are more sociable and less anonymous than those who live in big molochs. Living in a big city makes us 100% nameless, more private and more secret.

Our planet, our Earth can exist without us, maybe better than with us. But what about the Metropolis? Metropolis is a human creation. Without homo sapiens there will be no Metropolis. After 100 years, maybe even less than that, the Metropolis will be trash, in ruins, a great source for fantasy art paintings and illustrations.

The Metropolis is such a big thing and the order within it is not constrained during its development to repeat the things that exist in one part in any other part. Even if we reflect that the big cities were made by and for people, some order exists in it without our knowledge. There is also a lot of order in the creation of Metropolis which we humans have put there, like a string in a maze, so that we shall not lose our way. However the living system that is Metropolis has its own order, but the brain is separated from the heart. This amazing, ill and degenerate body, also beautifully ruthless and always sleepless, can’t exist without us humans. Therefore the heart of the Metropolis is us – PEOPLE.

If you see the painting in the flesh you can spot lots of creatures inside the central part of the work, and also lots of small creatures all around the suburbs. We are the heart!

"If growing up means it would be beneath my dignity to climb a tree, I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up! Not me!"
— J.M. Barrie (Peter Pan)

The painting “For Lesiu Orzesiu” is atypical for me at this moment. I used to paint in this way when I was 14 -16 years old. It was in the era when I first discovered oil paints and canvasses. My first oil painting, which I still have, presents Pinocchio, a toy made in Russia. I got it from Christopher, when I was 15 years old. I still have my Russian Pinocchio, unfortunately, he is missing his nose. The nose became detached somewhere, somehow, at some point during our joint trips. Pinocchio is made from plastic (such a very hard plastic) and is wearing knit wear made by me. I took him everywhere with me; we travelled together through almost the whole of Europe and some other parts of the world.

As a child I loved the story about Pinocchio and Geppetto. This wooden puppet gave me courage and hope that there was always a chance for salvation and rebirth. Although I was the opposite of Pinocchio, and told the truth. However, telling the truth got me constantly in trouble, too. I remember being surprised hearing my Mum telling lies and not growing donkey ears, I really expected her ears to grow. I am still waiting for this magical moment. When I finally realized that telling the truth is not practical, it was already too late for me. Not telling the truth turned out to be even greater torture than telling the truth. At some point of my life I started to create made-up stories, and this fact began to cause me much satisfaction, especially observing people listening to my far-fetched absurdities. My excuses for doing that were very simple. It was not lying or cheating with premeditation, it was just my imagination that needed to take flight.

Returning to the painting “For Lesiu Orzesiu” the creatures in it are real and the colours too. Lesiu asked me to make his beloved creatures immortal. I guess the painting will travel to India with him, soon. And so the word became flesh (the painting!) It is a medium sized painting on canvas 70cm x 50cm. I used the best Rembrandt’s acrylic paints (I think they are one of the best) with a minimum admixture of oil.
I hope that Peter Pan will always be alive in Lesiu and that Lesiu never lets him fade into oblivion. Amen!

The story of mouse, thatched cottage and Dunchideock by Kasia Turajczyk

A mouse (plural mice) is a small mammal belonging to the order of rodents. The best known mouse is of course the common house mouse. But in a case of Lyalls Cottage, the common species are the field mice. They have stood with us in the autumn and winter time and they are visiting us on regular bases every day in the spring, at the moment. Our mice are very keen on expensive chocolate. They also like very much my paintings, especially the ones which contain seeds. Often they are very timid face to face, but not always.
Since mice could be a perfect companion pets I don’t understand why some are so afraid for them. They can be playful, loving and can grow used to being handled. But I admit I didn’t try it with our field mice, no time for it.

The mice have more reasons to be afraid of people than vice versa. Mice are a staple in the diet of many small carnivores. Humans have eaten mice since prehistoric times and still eat them as a delicacy throughout eastern Zambia and northern Malawi. In various countries mice are used as pet food for pets such as snakes, lizards, frogs, tarantulas and birds of prey, and many pet stores carry mice for this purpose. I didn’t hear real stories about mice eating people, till now.

I don’t like them when they are trying to damage my paintings by eating them, but except for that, I like them, actually. In my new painting there is a small image of a field mouse we found in our bath-tub. It was such a small, tiny, frightened little thing. And now she/he is the honourable guest in my painting.
I used acrylics, cd, leaves, seeds, canes, wax and lots of other unusual things. It is a kind of abstract image of Lyalls Cottage and Dunchideock (the village) at this time of the year (Spring).

Poem by James Mercer Langston Hughes

I’m looking for a house
somewhere in this world
Where white shadows
Will not fall.

There is no such house
Dark brother
No such house
At all.

I would like to start by changing the name of the exhibition of Kasia Turajczyk. For me, ladies and gentlemen, the correct title should be “Poetry painted with a brush”. I needed a few days to digest the impressions that I got after visiting this exhibition of Kasia, and I bear them like the proverbial chicken with her egg.

I am not an artist, I am a writer and a poet, and I can’t describe the styles of works of art using technical jargon. It is only the beauty that grabs me and disturbs the rhythm of my heart. It is the beauty that sings and strikes faultlessly into my soul.
The paintings of the artist that I have seen at the exhibition have not only sung of beauty but have also sparkled like a golden sequin in the darkness of my ordinariness.

Some of the paintings made me uneasy, reminded me about great and mysterious things. Yes, you hear correctly, mysterious. Mysterious, because my imagination had been fired by the variety of the subjects and the multiplicity of expressions that I could not arrange, name or even picture. One has to be a great artist to impart such a broad range of art to people, in which every sensitive person can find her or his own, often forgotten nostalgias, longings, upsets, delights and admirations of the world but not only that. Some of the paintings forced you to think intensely, some absorbed ones attention with almost catastrophic suggestions. Two of the art works fascinated the wife of my grandson Lukasz so much that she wanted to buy them, but unfortunately she couldn’t afford it.

I would like to say something about those paintings. The first of them (Metropolis alias Moloch) in orange-brown-dark colours, suggested (to me at least) that after a horrible cataclysm only the shells of empty houses are left and no more life could be born again. The second painting has been painted in a fire red colour, we see hundred of dark persons on it headed as if in a trance to a burning semicircle. The semicircle is just about to start opening to absorb all the people and after that it will be closed forever. If people stopped in front of these paintings, they would not move for a long time. Watching, musing, as if they were joining the queue of the dark, bloody creatures in the painting. These works have absorbed my attention probably because of the anonymity of the expressions, the extraordinary colours and the camouflaging of the content – allowing unrestricted interpretation for the viewer.

My personal favourite, my own much loved painting, was entitled “A moment”. I will try to describe the large amount of feelings and impressions that I had while watching it. It is impossible to tell you about all of the perceptions and feelings I had but I would like to try and I hope that you will understand me. We have two boy's silhouettes, we see them from behind, they are walking and looking ahead. It is light and green around them. One can get an impression that the boys, brothers, friends are walking aimlessly, but this is only the first impression. The silhouettes breathe resoluteness, determination. They see a goal in front and they will reach it because of the nostalgia and their faith in something big and beautiful. The ramblers have a vision and during the walk they get more and more confident that they will reach the end and will achieve ther goal. Great power and the joy of victory is radiating from their small figures. I am going to join them. I throw away my sticks, because they prevent me from keeping up with them. I feel light, able, pushed by the confidence emanating from the boys. I am sure I will reach my goal just like they will. For me it could be the final one.

Thank you Kasia for your beautiful soul and your name (Kasia means something special to me)

Thank you for sharing your beautiful visions with us, with the world.

Marianna Sokól

(Writer and poet, a member of Polish Writer Society)
(Read during the opening of the Poetry Evening in Lodz, 13 October 2009)
(This review has been published in the Akant Magazine)

Winter in Dunchideock by Kasia Turajczyk, acrylic on board - 2010

Autumn in Dunchideock by Kasia B. Turajczyk

I present my new fantasy abstract paintings from the series Four Seasons. (N.B. it has nothing to do with The Four Seasons of Vivaldi; however I love his four violin concertos, especially when listening to them in Venice – the perfect place, with an exciting past and a unique atmosphere)

I painted "Autumn in Dunchideock” first, without the intention of it being a part of a series. But yesterday I painted “Winter in Dunchideock” and now I am sure that Spring and Summer will follow.
In both paintings I used acrylics plus lots of weird materials. It is a real pleasure to experiment with seeds, plants, flowers and wax mixed with acrylics.

The autumn was the most colourful time, maybe still dominated by green (it is always green here) but also full of warm nuances of red, brown, yellow, blue and purple colures.

The winter is greenish- brownish-dark, somehow cool, and from time to time snow-white or frost-white.

I am wondering what will happen with the magnolia trees. At one point in December the Magnolias were in full bud. I hope they will survive the cold days and the frost at night. I love to watch them when they are in bloom. They look like Russian princesses from the Russian folk fairy tales. That just gave me an idea for a new fantastic painting: homage to the Great Russian painter Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vrubel + Magnolia tree + Snow Queen.

]]> http://blog.kasiaturajczyk.com/2010/01/four-seasons/feed/ 2 http://blog.kasiaturajczyk.com/2009/12/my-brain2/ http://blog.kasiaturajczyk.com/2009/12/my-brain2/#comments Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:39:55 +0000 Kasia http://blog.kasiaturajczyk.com/?p=280 I have always been fascinated by the phenomenon of the human BRAIN, including my own brain…… to see the whole article please, visit "My brain – part I"

My brain, my chaotic brain inspired me to make these, I think really good, paintings. The series is called "My Brain" of course.

More on My Brain – new abstract series – part II

I have always been fascinated by the phenomenon of the human BRAIN, including my own brain…… to see the whole article please, visit "My brain – part I"

My brain, my chaotic brain inspired me to make these, I think really good, paintings. The series is called "My Brain" of course.

They are 7 paintings all together (until today at least). I am very proud to present them here. I have divided them into two posts. (My Brain part I and My Brain part II).

Six of them are highly abstract; only one of them is highly illustrative, although with some accents of weirdness. To make the collages I have used lots of stuff. The basis for te six abstract paintings are juices from beetroot, blueberry and a few mixed-leaves and beyond that in some of the paintings there are also acrylics.

In the painting ‘My Brain the Day After’ you can even find a piece of a real beetroot. In the painting “I Am Just OK” and "When the noises have gone away" I only used beetroot juice (first cooked together with some vinegar).“After the Third Glass of Champagne” has been made using blueberry juice (based on vinegar) and beetroot juice and some red vinegar.

The portrait of “Jim emptying his glass of wine and then making the world bleed” is painted with oil paints and finished with beetroot juice and nuggets of coco flakes.

When I am thinking about nice things - 51cm x 60cm

My brain when I see you suffering - 60cm x 51cm

My brain when I am just OK - 71cm x 61cm

My brain when the demons are awaken - 51cm x 76cm

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This painting is of course inspired by the blueberries in the garden, the blueberry ice crème (yummy) , the blueberry hill and all the blueberries fantasy. The Blueberry eye is a fantastic giant eye within the reflection of one blueberry, clouds, lights, sky and some weird creatures.

Blueberry eye fantasy- acrylic on canvas by Kasia B.Turajczyk 90 cm x 90 cm

From Wiki:

Researchers have shown that blueberry anthocyanins, proanthocyanidins, resveratrol, flavonols, and tannins inhibit mechanisms of cancer cell development and inflammation in vitro. Similar to red grape, some blueberry species contain in their skins significant levels of resveratrol, a phytochemical.
Although most studies below were conducted using the highbush cultivar of blueberries (V. corymbosum), content of polyphenol antioxidants and anthocyanins in lowbush (wild) blueberries (V. angustifolium) exceeds values found in high bush species.
At a 2007 symposium on berry health benefits were reports showing consumption of blueberries (and similar berry fruits including cranberries) may alleviate the cognitive decline occurring in Alzheimer's disease and other conditions of aging.
A chemical isolated from blueberry leaves can block replication of the hepatitis C virus and might help to delay disease spread in infected individuals (it's not a cure, though).

]]> http://blog.kasiaturajczyk.com/2009/10/blueberryeyefantasy/feed/ 3 http://blog.kasiaturajczyk.com/2009/08/uglygirl/ http://blog.kasiaturajczyk.com/2009/08/uglygirl/#comments Wed, 19 Aug 2009 23:18:56 +0000 Kasia http://blog.kasiaturajczyk.com/?p=219 This painting/collage is one of the Lyalls Cottage Garden series. It is a weird one. I only used natural materials from my garden and kitchen + wax. I called it an 'ugly girl'; Involuntariiy I created a face, truly by accident. The nearness and the intimacy with nature has an undeniable effect on my imagination. The painting is full of petals, styles, filaments, leaves, seeds, small stems from weeds, dried flowers, small chillies, seeds and feathers.

More on The Ugly Girl from my garden