„She envies the birds their wings, would love to meet Michelangelo on the bend. Her work is permeated by magic which she inherited from her ancestors…” (from the article by Joanna Grzegorzewska „Sorceress with a chisel” Gazeta Pomorska, 5.10.2000).
Krystyna Panasik-Michalska was born on February 26th, 1936 in Zelwa (Belarus), died on February 22, 2012 in Bydgoszcz. She studied painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts in the Nicolaus Copernicus University, in the studies of Professors Tymon Niesiołowski and Stanisław Borysowski (1956-1957), sculpture at the State College of Fine Arts in Gdańsk, in the studies of Professors Stanisław Horno-Popławski and Alfred Wiśniewski (1959-1961). In the years 1964-1968 she studied at the Faculty of Sculpture of the State College of Fine Arts in Poznań. In 1968, she graduated with honours in the study of Professor Bazyli Wojtowicz. She sculpted, painted, drew, taught art, and in the years 1961-1963, worked as a journalist. The author of 15 individual exhibitions. Works in collections: The Leon Wyczółkowski District Museum in Bydgoszcz, the Majdanek Museum, Municipal Gallery bwa in Bydgoszcz, ZAR Gallery in Warsaw, the Museum in Cherkasy (Ukraine), „TdT” Gallery in Nuremberg (Germany), and in private collections in Poland and abroad.
„… Throughout her career, Krystyna Panasik proved that she is an original, seeking artist, to a large extent free of the excess of tradition. At the same time, she’s able to suggest certain associations and ideas about man, his dramas of losing appearances, entanglements and masks. Her works tend to be reflective, muted, metaphorical and expanded. Formal solutions force us to seek for ideological similarities with the once fashionable „new figuration”, by which I mean the compositional freedom, ease of use of simplified reality, ambiguity of theme program and concern for the meaning layer with a distinct literary context. It’s the form that plays the role of a metaphor or a symbol. It’s the starting point for a reflection of a more general nature, guiding it towards poetic, visionary sensuality. Trunk of a tree, a piece of a bough, stone, metal these are the materials from which Panasik brings to life her artistic entities. Of all the carving materials she likes hardwood the most (oak, elm, sycamore). Like a magician, out of the fallen trunk she gets its dual nature, the one that it formed itself and the one read out and exposed by the artist. (…) In addition to sculpture, she also uses gouache and draws. Gouaches have a fresh, discreet charm and the unique density of the poetry. She tries to find for herself a unique way of expressing a space. Besides, space is the gouaches’ most important theme. (…) Her gouaches are done in the „frottage”, in one copy; she simply cannot be duplicated. And I think that in this lies their charm. …”
(Łukasz Płotkowski: Krystyna Panasik or reading shapes, in: Bydgoski Informator Kulturalny, 1996, No. 6)
„… Her sculptures are characterized by a compact, spare composition. She clears her works of unnecessary details, looking for simple means of expression. She combines the truth of view with a metaphorical message. Formal simplicity creates atmosphere of intimacy. Each sculpture, modest in its structure, is a carrier of a huge emotional charge for a man, nature, the world. Krystyna Panasik creates unique images of people and birds. She tells about feelings, love, longings. These are not works of joyful expression. They carry with them a measure of sadness and loneliness. (…) Such is the face with a tear embedded in the stone body, a figure protecting the plant, a stone and wooden figure with a wreath of leaves. Such are also the birds: the tired, huddled one; the soaring ones and those forming the mating pair. Krystyna Panasik’s sculptures are full of peace, free of movement. They always form a closed composition each of them exists only for itself. …”
(Elżbieta Kantorek the Człowiek-Ziemia-Kosmos guide, 2000, BWA, Bydgoszcz/
Opening of the exhibition: April 27th, 2012, 6pm
End 2012.05.26
