Colorful Shades of Soul
Andrea Rubbini
Some of the most beloved artistic works require plenty of explanation of intention and process. Whether or not such involved participation and intellectualizing finds supporters or entices critics, such is not the case for the artist Mark Krawczynski. Krawczynski’s work can be imagined as windows that open to his subconscious, allowing others in fully to perhaps share a common dream.
Despite the complexity entailed in allowing the subconscious to be represented there before the viewer in a piece of art–at least, effectively– Krawczynski’s style seems to speak volumes of the virtue of simplicity–of colors, of shapes–which allow the viewer feel at ease before his work and thus, be fully enveloped by it. Simplicity does not imply being predictable, naïve or superficial. An allegorical sculpture like Enlightement conveys the immediate appeal of disclosing a secret world, while instigating a more hermetic path toward self-comprehension.
As two pieces as Chromafrodit Magnesium or Chromafrodit Silver are presented with a sharp "neatness," a subsequent rush of thoughts charge the viewer, being an example of how simplicity could lead to a diverse range of feelings. It’s not then the extraordinary research of forms and colors that make the difference when it comes down to first impressions of Krawczynski’s work. Nevertheless most of Krawczynski paintings lack a more deeply oriented study on chromatics, required by his approach to imagination as an elected subject for artworks. Despite a valuable intention of smoothing complexity for immediacy, it ends up softening the power of the paintings, that really don’t seem to come alive on the surface of canvas.
At the same time some other experiments with wood, a Krawczynski’s preferred material, result quite disappointing if compared to more successful accomplishes of his art. One could easily recognize an effort to move on different context that involves common objects as stuffed animals, stretched like furs on stacks: while some artists out there can perform this idea in an hilarious or sick way, Kakoo and Moomaa look only grotesque and naïve, an inoffensive tribute to childhood that doesn’t match with Krawczynski’s paintings flavour.
