the artist
Involuntary
I am preoccupied by the moments that precede understanding. The space between; neither here nor there; the areas that cannot yet be described by words. The distance has not been set, it has not been brought within the scope of the senses. “Involuntary” is about the moment of inquiry, before knowledge sets, stabilizes and finally transforms.
In my work I am especially drawn to moments of surprise and confusion which often spark discovery… as I examine the nature of this, I attempt to freeze or fix time embalming the fleeting object of change in a saturation of physical material. This work generates dynamic gestural impressions of mass and surface that recreate the sense of urgency on a path to a kind of “knowing”. The character of the work derives from the open improvisation.
“I create feelings” – Lynda Benglis
“Involuntary” describes feelings created almost haphazardly, too new to bear names as such as impressions experienced by the viewer encountering the work. It is my goal to leave the work open, in its interpretations, meanings and inevitable change. I acknowledge the tendencies to see recognizable elements and objects in abstractions. A new narrative can be forged and exploited this way.
Sensations and feelings cannot exist without the body as a presence in the outside world as a repository of impressions, information and memories. I build from clothing as an acknowledgment of this presence. The pulled, drooped, squeezed and tensioned portions in the underlying forms of each sculpture point to and illustrate the physical reality to which we are subjected and to its sensory origin. The work is very tactile and reveals the artist behind the work. They are shaped with my hands, feeling the roughness, seams, stiches and surfaces of the real materials; their weight and resistance. The viewer is invited to enter that reality.
Kamila Szczesna
“But aren’t feelings the only things in the universe that we can really know? Thoughts are just lawyers for our feelings. Memory is a pile of stories determined by feelings and constantly revised to fit new feelings.” - Peter Schjeldahl
