| The sumptuous paintings of Barbara Palka-Winek represent a crossroads of East and West. Drawing upon sources as varied as Orientalism, Byzantine art, and Mycenaean metalwork, the artist also exhibits more contemporary references including Art Nouveau symbolism, and modernist Abstraction. |  |
Jill Smith
The sumptuous paintings of Barbara Palka-Winek represent a crossroads of East and West. Drawing upon sources as varied as Orientalism, Byzantine art, and Mycenaean metalwork, the artist also exhibits more contemporary references including Art Nouveau symbolism, and modernist Abstraction. Employing a strongly stylized painting method, the work is distinguished by layered shapes and elegant color. The artist’s figurative work is distinguished by dynamic, undulating, and lyrical brushstrokes combined with curved “whiplash” lines of syncopated rhythm. The striking two-dimensionality with which Palka-Winek surrounds her figures evokes the composition found in much Byzantine art, a ground that, in its negation of space, may be regarded as negating time—and in so doing, creating a figure of eternity.
In one work, entitled Profoimago the central figure’s crimson robe appears textured in a technique that evinces obvious similarities to Russian icon painting. Simultaneously, her dewy skin is rounded and dimensional attesting to an extraordinary decorative beauty. The artist treats the human figure without shadow, and heightens the lush sensuality of skin by surrounding it with areas of translucent, highly ornamental, and brilliantly composed areas of decoration. Here birth, death, and the sensuality of life exist side-by-side, suspended in a state of eloquent equilibrium. Charismatic and forceful, Palka-Winek’s use of seductive color, vibrant brushwork, and sinuous line highlight the development of the artist’s sense of freedom and her unique style.
Palka-Winek’s work straddles the line between representation and abstraction, revealing how ordinary objects often serve as a point of departure for an artist’s abstract vision, or, alternatively, how an artist’s abstract forms may subtly suggest recognizable elements. Such work addresses three significant preoccupations in contemporary art: shifting perceptions of identity; explorations of the political landscape; and the notion of the sublime and the dematerialization of the art object. The artist’s strength lies within this fluid movement between genres and categories. Caught between description and dreamlike states, and the observed and the imagined, Palka-Winek’s work transforms the natural world into poetic visions and fantasy, while still utilizing symbolic elements to convey psychological ideas and emphasize the “freedom” of art from traditional culture.
