Martta Węg (Marta Węgrzynowska)

She was born in 1978 in Tomaszow Mazowiecki, Poland. She received her secondary education in the Private School of Drawing and Painting (Prywatna Szkoła Rysunku i Malarstwa) in Lodz and in the Lycée of Plastic Arts Liceum Sztuk Plastycznych) in Lodz. She later enrolled at the European Academy of Arts Europejska Akademia Sztuk) in Warsaw, from which she graduated with honours having completed her studies in the Department of Painting under the guidance of Prof. Barbara Szubinska. She also obtained an additional degree in workshop graphics and drawing. She was short-listed by the European Academy of Arts for the Award of the President of the Republic of Poland in a competition for the best diploma project in the art colleges, the so called Year 2002 Diploma, in the province of fine arts and applied arts. She has been awarded the Mayor of Warsaw Award for the best graduate of the Warsaw colleges. She also has been awarded twice an artistic scholarship of the Minister of National Education. She has been a participant of many individual and collective exhibition in Poland and abroad. She has shown her paintings, among other places, in the Art Présent Gallery in Paris, and in Arnhem in the Nethrlands.

She lives and works in Warsaw.

The artist's freedom makes it possible to penetrate the space of art in search of one's own inspirations. It is the latter that are for me the points of reference, road signs which conduct me to the essence of cognition - the cognition of the world, and thus, of myself, and which enable my art to become even more personal. The process of creation provokes me to as full and unrestrained expansion of my own self as possible. Each of my paintings is an intimate conversation not only with my self, but also with the world, with my fellow men. Painting is for me a means to express my judgements and opinions, an outlet for my pent-up, innermost emotions. At no time, however, is a painting of mine a manifesto calling on the world, or a shout of pain, it is rather a form of dialogue with world, with people, and with nature. Each painting contains a lot of questions that trouble me, and, quite often, it also contains some of the answers. The questions usually concern man's function in the world, the tasks that we must face, the barriers we have to overcome, as well as man's desires, dreams, and expectations. The questions often change into a reflection on our psychic condition, our weaknesses, but also on the great strength inherent in ourselves. This is probably the reason that, while the point of departure for my paintings is man as such, the specific source of inspiration is provided by concrete persons who get transformed in the paintings, they assume various postures, sometimes they put on masks. But at bottom they remain themselves - and this is probably why they keep on inspiring me. The creative process starts for me much earlier, before I take hold of the painting brush standing in front of the canvas, it starts at the moment when a creation provoking stimulus appears. It may often come from the surrounding world, from nature, landscape, or people. I feel privileged to be able to try, at least, to preserve, in the way that suits me most, shapes, colours, smells. Consequently, I make a quick sketch of what I see, I record my feelings, I verbalise my associations, which start to live their own lives, some of them very soon, and some after years. This is the way my pictures usually come into being, and each of them is a friend who is always there, waiting for a talk. It is in an intimate relationship with them that I experience a feeling of true friendship, a feeling that, with every new painting, becomes deeper, broader, and unites my painting and my self into a whole new world.

Martta Weg

Life is a marvel, my friend - sings a leading actress in the movie Tango by Carlos Saura. And by this declaration alone, the director tries to persuade us that it is through tango that this marvel can be expressed.
For tango, as claimed by an ever increasing number of its aficionados all over the world, appears to be not just a dance, but also a philosophy, a creed, and a way of life.
As one of the tango teachers put it during his chat to Beata Pawlikowska, a famous Polish explorer:
We all have dreams that we cannot fulfil, problems we are not able to solve. We are full of doubt, full of dither and longings. In a sense, we are all immigrants in search of our true home. But the home does exist. It can be discovered in tango.
Tango originated in the docks of Buenos Aires, amongst the immigrants looking for jobs in Argentina and... the ladies from the local brothels. Through the dance, the immigrants used to relieve their anxieties and feelings of homesickness and failure. With time, tango evolved into a symbol of love and death. It was danced by Rudolf Valentino in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse; having lost his wife, the main character of Last Tango in Paris drowned his sorrows in alcohol; Scent of a Woman featured the blind colonel who taught his young friend how to hold a woman in tango and how to possess her, and in Tango by Sławomir Mrożek the uncouth Edek enchanted his educated uncle with the dance.

And here is where we should begin telling the story of Martta Węg painting. Martta visited Argentina, the cradle of tango, and the dance became, as the title of the exhibition suggests, the perfect setting to observe the people, the nature, but most of all (it is my suggestion only), to scrutinize herself.
A few years ago, professor Barbara Szubińska referred to Martta as a young painter who does not get inspiration from the ideas of other masters. She is boldly creating her own individual world, distinctive through its subtle poetics, refined sophistication of colours, as well as a nostalgia of some sort.
I do not know if the Argentine adventure has changed the artist as such, but it has undoubtedly influenced her works. The change has not been a revolutionary one but seeing the araucaria forests of Patagonia, the rusty and rocky coastline, the glaciers and the waterfalls, has for sure intensified her colours, subdued the light which used to break space in her paintings, and deepened the penetration of white...
The colour white in Martta Węg paintings has always been a prominent feature, it has come in through transparent colours, has been applied in impastos and finished off with light reflections...
Through their elegance of style, the paintings by Martta Węg resemble the ones by Watteau, but also they allude to the genre represented by Hodler, Grien and in Poland by Grzywacz....
The concept of walking along the paths is distinctive of Martta Węg's works. But the women walking those paths do not remind you of the exuberant company depicted in the paintings by Watteau, rather they resemble the female characters by Hodler, who are well aware of the passage of time (View into Infinity) or the more explicit ones by Grien (The Seven Ages of Woman). We are moving monotonously in circles, the same vicious circles...
The Argentine tango introduced a male figure in Martta's paintings, which, except for a few occurrences, has been absent from her works for years. But here he is set in his proper place - he does not bring in passion nor daredevil solutions to the problems by using a knife...
The dancing couples behave like the ones at the milongas in Berlin, London, Amsterdam, and apparently in Warsaw, too. They turn up just to enjoy the dance. Everyone remains self - contained, focused on their own thoughts and problems.
Ostentatiously, the artist becomes an unemotional watcher of the dance which could perfectly reflect the stoic philosophy, of what is insubstantial...
Martta's interpretation of tango exemplifies what the above-mentioned teacher once said.
In her paintings, she is setting up the dancers and the other characters like a director who tries, through his actors, to say (also, or perhaps mostly, to himself) something about the world, his perception of reality, and to let those teeming disturbing thoughts go...
Standing by this attitude unwaveringly since the very beginning of her artistic career, both technically and intellectually, Martta Węg has established a true enclave in the boundless space of the overwhelming rat race.

Andrzej Matynia,

Warsaw, 2010

I first met Mrs Marta Węgrzynowska during the entrance examination to the European Academy of Arts in Warsaw. I was very taken with her Gothic looks making one think of the so called "beautiful madonnas" of the Middle Ages. During her whole studies, the author of the present exhibition was characterised by uncommon modesty going along with boundless patience and dedication.

She is now reaping the fruits of her talent and of the above mentioned traits of character. Knowing her creative passion and sensitivity, I am convinced that she will make her name in the world of art, which is what I wish her most heartily.

Antoni Falat

Warsaw, 2002

She is a young person who has the look of a teenage girl, but the personality of a mature adult. She is focused, thorough, serious, and responsible. She observes and drinks in the world with a child's sensitivity and total absorption in order to later express her own reality in a conscious and mature way, and in her own, unaffected language.

Marta's paintings and graphics are distant projection of the reality held in her memory and not in the eye, and filtered through her feelings.

Marta's works, even when seemingly study-like, have an air of poetry, or rather fairy tales. They are menaingful and speak for themselves, everybody should experience them in their own way.

Danuta Kolwzan Nowicka

Warsaw, 2001