Graduate of the Special Vocational School in Lublin and the School of Arts and Knowledge under the direction of Prof. Wiktor Zin.
For Dominika, artistic activity provides a perfect outlet for her thoughts and feelings. It is an expression of her mental condition. Drawing has been the passion of her life, although nowadays its place is often taken over by her theatrical endeavours and the suggestive roles she brings to life on the stage of the Theatre of People with Disabilities at the Lublin Theatre Therapy Foundation. The new theatrical challenges allow her to overcome barriers and fears, to find ways to communicate with her surroundings. The sense of other people’s admiration makes her happy and brigs her closer to others than ever before. The artist claims that art allows her to conquer her autism. She continues to paint, although now mainly on specific request or for a given task, e.g. a competition or an open-air painting workshop.
Each of her paintings constitutes an attempt to answer questions that have plagued thespians since the very earliest beginnings of theatre. Each work is an encounter with the philosophy of life, the notions of good and evil, the meaning of life in all its variety and unpredictability, with our need to put on and take off an endless consecution of masks.
The great diversity of sizes and styles used in her paintings which include tiny pictures, sketches, and drawings created in a variety of techniques (pencil/ballpoint/felt-tip/dry pastel/crayon) is simply another facet of the insatiable need to ask questions that is inherent in any artist.
She may be struggling with physical limitations – her perception of light, shadow, possibly even colour is distorted due to her serious eyesight problems – but all that also allows her to see what most others do not.
Angel
“Angel” of 2006 – a large vertical painting in dry pastel, 100 x 70 cm. The 2/3 bottom of the image is taken up by a figure of an angel robed in intertwining hues of ochre/claret with tiny hints of blue. The top section of the painting is occupied by a pair of white wings spreading from behind the angel’s back, with the head surrounded by the translucent, white feathers. High above the head hangs a halo – a blue and white elliptical shape. The angel is a woman with long, fair hair reaching her waist, wearing a wide sleeve dress. Her arms are brought up to shoulder level, her waist slender, breasts the shape of two buns. The flared cut of her dress gives the impression of dance. The angel’s facial features are delicate – somewhat indistinct. The painting is filled with movement and light, which the artist highlighted by shading the background dark blue on the left and permeating with green on the right, as well as blue mixing with white. The bottom of the painting is coloured lighter than the dress. Another element intensifying the sense of movement is the Angel’s hair, spread around the figure, flowing in tune with her raised arms and the movement of the dress – clearly drawn in the same direction, as if the woman was about to turn. So far, Dominika has painted over a dozen static angel figures in various colours on A5 paper. The Angel described above is the only one hinting at femininity and motion. It was created while the artist was preparing her role as Isadora Duncan for the play “Isadora. Story of a Woman”.
Autumn Landscape
Dry pastel on 40x50 cm paper, created in 2014. The perspective is split in half with a slight elevation of a green field of tiny blossoms on long stems, leaning slightly to the right. In the upper half: the sky is light blue on the horizon and gradually turns muddy red towards the top of the painting. The sky gives the impression of ascension due to the bottom-up, symmetric use of white scribbling intended to symbolise the clouds. Despite this sense of rising, the sky remains heavy against the ground. A road cuts across the centre of the flowery field to proportionally vanish into the horizon. The petals of long-stemmed flowers on the left are marked with tiny red and white strokes, while to the right of the road they are only hinted with white lines – this technique creates the impression of wind, blowing from left to right and towards the horizon. The image seems cold and ominous – hinting at the beginning of autumn.
