Gosha Karpowicz Landscape of Meanings
675 Third Ave NYC
January- July 2023
When thinking about landscape, I recall my first memories of wide open farmlands in Poland, warm red and pink flowers on green fields, a sense of freedom, and an enticement in experiencing the vastness and unknownness of the universe. I relate to landscape as a space which holds and supports life, with human beings moving though the vertical portals of nature against the ever-vanishing horizontal plane of the earth.
In my painting process I rely on the inner landscape of the invisible, encompassing human conditions, emotions, and my internal perceptions of reality to shape the space.
www.GoshaKarpowiczart.com
Essence of Simplicity
Open Horizontal XXXVII 2018 48” x 36” is in its origin a part of a triptych XXXVI & XXXVIII.
It represents my exploration on the nature of color, its essence, pulsating, like a breath, in between light and darkness.
I am interested in an immersive experience where color becomes a boundless entity, free from beginnings or endings, like horizons, extending beyond our sight.
In this painting, I am embracing the realm of pure simplicity. My deliberate choice to use unprocessed elements: powdered pigment, walnut oil, canvas, and wooden stretchers, relates to my desire to maintain a tangible connection in my process to the world from which it emerged.
www.GoshaKarpowiczart.com
A Spaciousness of Silence. Inter-valium Intervallum XXXIX 2021 48” x 36” powdered pigment and oil on linen.
I often think about color like a sound extending through the canvas.
I experience painting and music both arising as if out of a void, a concealed space of some intangible field of a greater knowing. They emerge at first without a reference to anything familiar, pure color akin to pure sound.
As a former student-dancer at the Merce Cunningham studio in the early 90s, I flourished in the dynamic interplay of "chance and change" choreography, the rhythmic movements, and John Cage's music. This period affirmed the foundation of my creative process and intensified my preoccupation with abstract expression.
www.GoshaKarpowiczart.com
On the other side
In The White Series VIII 2019, measuring 48" x 36", the Viridian green powdered pigment emerges from the earthy tones of the linen, serving as a visible reminder of its origin.
In the past, I pursued a scientific path as a biology and chemistry major, examining life through the lens of a microscope. I yearned to unravel the origins and essence of existence. I wanted to know how things begin and where they come from. What is the nature of things.
As a painter, I persist in this quest, but now it unfolds through my painting process, fueled by my keen observations and impressions of the surrounding world.
www.GoshaKarpowiczart.com
The folk song
The White Series II 48” x36” 2019 powdered earth pigment and oil on linen, originated from Darkness. I painted darkness first, by layering colors until they were saturated, heavy and opulent. Within the depths of darkness, I found solace, embrace and ease. It was emotionally challenging to take that darkness away, and allow the colors to emerge, eventually leading to the exploration of white.
The secret behind this painting lies in its connection to the mood of a Polish film called "Cold War" directed by P. Pawlikowski and written by J. Glowacki in 2018. The film tells a melodramatic love story between two artists who were unable to be together yet couldn't be apart. Within the film, there is a folk song titled "dwa serduszka, cztery oczy" that, I believe, has influenced this painting by evoking memories of the farmlands I grew up on in a communist Poland. It resonates with my deep longing for freedom and the constant challenge of living it.
www.GoshaKarpowiczart.com
Seduced by color
The White Series III 2019 48” x 36” powdered earth pigment and oil on linen, forms a diptych with The White Series II. My intention behind the "White Series" was to explore the essence of the color white. Throughout the history of Art, I have been observing how other painters employ white paint and the effects it produces. Paintings by Malevich and Mondrian, in particular, have piqued my curiosity.
I chose to progress towards white by transitioning from darkness, traversing shadows and shades of the color spectrum, and ultimately arriving at white. However, none of the paintings in the series achieved pure white. I discovered that white is an ideal that eludes reality, a sort of utopia. Nevertheless, it undeniably adds intrigue to reality by demanding attention.
www.GoshaKarpowiczart.com
In vicinity to White
The White Series V 2019 48” x 36” powdered earth pigment and oil on linen. When I arrived at White, it was always tinted, shaded, and molded by what came before it. Pure White does not exist in reality, just like pure light cannot be perceived by the naked eye. It needs some interaction, an interference, to become visible and relatable.
I imagine pure White would be blinding, like a milky fog on the ocean, without a point of reference or direction. I felt that white was indifferent, calmly veiling memories and the past.
www.GoshaKarpowiczart.com
Darkness pulls me in, White spits me out
The White Series IV 2019 48” x 36” powdered earth pigment and oil on linen. White holds for me a sense of uncertainty; it vacillates and cannot be pinned down. It is unattainable in its essence. Pure White is an elusive concept that does not exist in reality. We can only perceive it when it reflects other colors.
www.GoshaKarpowiczart.com
Re-emerging
The White Series I 2019 is a 48" x 36" painting created using powdered earth pigment and oil on canvas. It represents the start of my White Series in 2019, signifying a transition from a dark period in my artwork. In this series, I moved away from warm and cool maroon-ish, blue, and purple reds and embraced the light-ness of permanent rose red, leading me to more freedom in my use of color . As I painted from darkness to lightness, the shades of white emerged, resulting in uneven horizontal spaces.
www.GoshaKarpowiczart.com
Spaciousness
Intervallum XXXXI 2021 48” x 34” powdered earth pigments and oil on linen
In a world where stillness is rare, my paintings rely on the moments of quietude and Simplicity of experience.
Intervallum XXXXI 2021 is a 48" x 34" painting created using powdered earth pigments and oil on linen. In a world where stillness is rare, this painting relies on the moments of quietude and a simplicity of experience.
www.GoshaKarpowiczart.com
At a young age, Karpowicz was compelled to leave her home country of Poland, then part of the Communist bloc, to live and paint in the United States, where freedom of expression was encouraged and respected. She graduated from Parsons School of Design in 1985 in New York City where she studied under Sean Scully. Gosha Karpowicz exhibited at Hopper House in Nyack, Equity Gallery NYC, The Painting Center NYC, Anthroposophical Society in NYC , Museum of contemporary Art Elektrownia in Poland, Syker Vorwerk, Bremen, Germany, Chashama NYC, amongst many others. Gosha Karpowicz was a recipient of MargoGelb residency in Cape Cod in 2023. Her paintings can be found in Private collections in the United States, Italy, Poland, and Germany. Her paintings are in the permanent collection in The Museum of Contemporary Art Elekrownia in Poland.