_{Image courtesy of Eva Chelmecka}

Interview: Eva Chelmecka

Luca Curci talks with Eva Chelmecka during CONSCIOUSNESS of ANIMA MUNDI Festival 2017 in Venice.

Eva Chelmecka was born on 21-st of July 1976. A graduate of the European Academy of Arts, where she studied under the tutelage of such artists as Franciszek Starowieyski, Jerzy Duda- Gracz and Wiktor Zin. Obtained the Diploma in Painting with the annex of Interior Design in the year 2001. Lives and works in Warsaw, showing her works on collective and individual exhibitions in Poland and abroad, since 1998. This year for the second time participates in the exhibition accompanying Venice Art Biennale. The works of Eva Chelmecka are part of the private collections in Poland, Canada, Croatia, Austria and the Netherlands. The artist apart from surreal paintings creates also unique sculptures and colourful mosaics. In her works echoes the fascination with the ornaments of the Far East, combined with the saturate, intense colour. Chelmecka eagerly reaches also for fluorescent techniques, both in easel painting, as well as in the form of body- painting, performed live on the bodies of models, in ultraviolet light. In her art she is focused on bringing to life the new imaginary worlds, showing the spiritual, mysterious aspect of the reality which is surrounding us. Currently she is particularly inspired by integrated circuits, microprocessors, the remains of cell phones, that become in her works the symbols of our times and absorbing us cyberculture.

 

_{Image courtesy of Eva Chelmecka}

 

Luca Curci – Has the artwork presented been created for the festival or as a part of preexisting works?

Eva Chelmecka – My work the City presented on the Elements exhibition was created before as a part of the Cyberrel cycle, which is saying about how the spread of a technology and the social media affects us humans and our relationships between each other. Most of the works from this cycle is done from the recycled elements among them such symbols of contemporary era like integrated circuits or the mobile phones remains. They are created in the technique of assemblage and accompanied also by the oil and acrylic paintings.

 

L.C. – Please tell me what are you working at right now…

E.C. – Currently I’m developing the cycle mentioned above by making next upcycling style objects but I’m also preparing the exhibition of my other cycle named Ornamental focused on how repeated ornaments (like sounds also) influence our mind. That’s why the name of the cycle combines this two elements – ornament and mental. These paintings are not only very decorative but they are also working calming and relaxing in the similar way as the mantras from the Eastern tradition do.

 

_{Image courtesy of Eva Chelmecka}

 

L.C. – What is art for you?

E.C. – Art is a mean of expression and communication but speaking in the visual and emotional language which has no boundaires. That’s what I love about it ! Plus the infinite possibilities of creating new imaginery worlds – ruled by nothing else but the author’s idea. For me personally it’s also a kind of internal necessity, as I truly enjoy the whole creative process, what makes my work a passion at the same moment. Although the temptation of individual self expression is very big, I think that the more universal message art brings, the more powerful it becomes.

 

L.C. – What role does the artist have in society?

E.C. – Me as an artist I would like to bring only good vibrations to the World with my art …To enchant people somehow- with how it has been done, to make their lives more bright colourful and surprising, thanks to watching my works. But on the other hand I consider the role of art as a kind of a mirror for society, reflecting the condition of the humanity, so I try to communicate some important messages through my art, like for example the call for more respect for environment and less focus on consumerism. Art should spread consciouness but it should be light and just inspiring for some reflections, not propagandous or moralizatory in any case.

 

L.C. – What is the message linked to the artwork you are showing in the current exhibition? How is it connected to the theme of CONSCIOUSNESS – ANIMA MUNDI FESTIVAL?

E.C. – My oil painting TRIBUTE TO YOGA participating in the CONSCIOUSNESS Exhibition shows the spiritual construction of the human being and the process of opening of the chakras (energetic centers in our body) under the influence of the Yoga practice, which is also opening us to the spiritual aspect of the world and our being…A result of this process is a development of the human consiousness. Yoga having the Far Eastern roots but growing more and more popular in the West, is for me also an interesting symbol of how the cultures and religious influences mix and migrate nowadays, enriching the collective consciousness.

 

_{Image courtesy of Eva Chelmecka}

 

L.C. – What is your creative process like?

E.C. – I’m always aiming to the situation when the final efect is surprising also for me. So I never make the sketches of the final version for any picture or the object. I just plan roughly what the composition will be about, set the basic construction and then on the way I’m searching for some solutions and the materials which fit it the best. That makes the whole process maybe not easier, but really creative and interesting for me. What’s more I ‘m always proceeding with a few works at one time and some solutions come very quickly and some need months to mature.

 

L.C. – What do you think about It’s LIQUID Platform?

E.C. – I think that It’s Liquid Platform is a fantastic opportunity to go out with your art to the broader audience as it has a really big reach. It’s Liquid group is very active all over the world what creates so many possibilities! Thanks to the cooperation with InternationalArtExpo organisation I could take part in three events on three continents in just last half year – in other case probably I wouldn’t manage to organize it all just by myself -as generally I’m focused on my work at the studio.