October 21st – November 23rd

FORMAH gallery is pleased to present solo exhibition by artist Karin Waskiewicz , Pentimento.

Paintings presented in Pentimento unveil the information hidden within the complex color system. Inspired by a remembered landscape, Waskiewicz recreates memories of a space that became abstract over time. Memories in the artworks are decoded, exposing associated with a moment feelings and characteristics of a landscape. Waskiewicz combines the visual and the emotional from the experience, translating it to layers of physical and affective elements.

“Pentimento”, the exhibition title, is an Italian word that describes the changes made by an artist during the painting process. Unlike a traditional painting in which a pentimento will remain a secret only known to the artist and hidden under layers of paint, Waskiewicz’s unforgiving style of carving paint allows the viewer to see every layer, as well as each change and decision made by the artist throughout the painting process.

Artwork in Pentimento highlights visible layers of paint differing from the under paint. Each panel is thickly built up with many layers of multi-hued acrylic paint, sufficient to accumulate beyond the edges of the panel, creating organic form. Strokes in the dry paint are carved using tools traditionally meant for woodworking, uncovering the information, making the earlier elements of the painting visible. 

This unique practice evokes the flickering light and color of the natural world. Similar to creating a puzzle, the artist integrates carved chips in the layers of three-dimensional woven textures from other paintings, connecting her body of work not only conceptually but physically.

The paintings change slightly with the viewer’s gaze, inviting to walk around and explore the artwork from different angles. Like impressionism, Waskiewicz’s paintings offer micro vs macro approach, while each point of view exposes emergence of earlier layers, forms and carefully planned woven grids.

The artist discovers what is the underpaint of her artwork, much like that an archeologist, she excavates the surface of the painting to expose fragments of time. Waskiewicz compares the layers to moments in her own life; as some events stay with us, others remain faint and distant memories.  

The artist’s goal is not only to capture the way a specific landscape looks and feels, but how complex they affect our consciousness and resonate in different ways within our memories. All of that allows the viewer to become immersed in the process of painting.

Pentimento is on view October 21st through November 23rd.