extract from the review of the "Velis Passis"
Cracow, 1994 writer -  Ryszard Kapuscinski

   (...) There are painters whose vision of the painting appears during the work on it through many strenuous and arduous trials and searchings. However it seems that Kaldowski creates this vision in his imagination on the canvas. This ability, ability of seeing an image before it appears as a material and artistic piece of art explains to us something so visible in his art which is the colouristic unity of his paintings, perfectly grasped balance, harmony and concord of tints.

   Easiness and bravery of handling the colour, its richness, its liveliness and a vibrating abundance create a feeling of freshness and charm of his painting. In this impulsive vividness of colours and contours there is no space left for the pedantic smoothing, for the excessive detailed cuts.(...)

   However in spite of the fact that our age imposes on us such a hurry and almost legitimate negligence and nonchalance, the painter does not surrender and in every painting one can see the importance that he attaches to the form. In Kaldowski's paintings the form means - according to Cezanne's definition - colour. Moving, vibrating, restless colour - the qualities characteristic of intensive and ever - changing life.

   There is one more feature of this painting, ever so important, of which the value is hard to estimate in the formal language of modern art critique - meaning its humanity. Kindness and friendliness he directs to the others, a wish to know and understand them. A desire to build his art from the light, the colours of which the tone and temperature support the life.

   But first of all the art of Mariusz Kaldowski reminds us that man, his face, his personality that is expressed on this face continues to be - in spite of the invasion of all kinds of the abstract forms - always present and immortal theme in the art.(...)

IMAGES OF GARDENS - introduction to catalogue director
of Oriel Plas Glyn-y-Weddw
Gallery in North Wales, 2001 DavidJeffreys

   The musician Viola Resmer first introduced Mariusz Kaldowski, a talented young Polish artist from the Academy of Fine Art, Cracow, now living and working in London, to me. Oriel Plas Glyn-y-Weddw first staged a major exhibition of his work, entitled People are like Gardens in 1999. The success of his exhibition led to an invitation to spend time at Plas Glyn-y-Weddw on the Llyn Peninsula, painting and interpreting the landscape and gardens of North Wales. Mariusz's bold and vibrant use of colour in his acrylic and ink on paper images is admirably suited to the depiction and unique interpretation of the seasonal vernal and autumnal gardens of the Welsh coast and mountains. His spring gardens have a freshness and vitality, appealing to the mind and the eye; his gardens in the autumn evoke feelings for the transitory in nature, combined with an admiration for the skill with which the splendours of natural decay can be illuminated in the medium of acrylic. Mariusz, uses its quick-drying, permanent qualities with great versatility, from thin washes to rich impasto-like effects, to convey his spontaneous reaction to the beauty and richness of the infinitely varied gardens of the Welsh scene.

   As an enthusiast for Welsh landscape and gardens, I had the pleasure in 2000 of driving Mariusz and his son Igor to some of the finest public and private gardens in North Wales. I am especially grateful to the National Trust at Plas Newydd, and of course to Lord and Lady Anglesey, to Mrs. Bettina Harden at Nanhoron, to Llew Evans, the Director at Plas Tan y Bwich, to Robin Llywelyn at Portmeirion, to the National Trust and Mary Thomas at Plas y Rhiw. Warm thanks to them all for showing their gardens and allowing Mariusz complete freedom in choosing locations for his work.

extract from the review of the “Velis Passis”,
Cracow, 1994 philosopher - Jerzy Prokopiuk

   (...) His portraits show the ideal faces of people, they show - in their colourfulness - the similarity connecting man and God, the spiritual and divine substance within human.(...)

   Mariusz Kaldowski in his portraits of chosen group of people shows them in evolutional phase of individuation process - passing from "resemblance" into "image", from "colour" into "light". They are faces of people matured - in different ways - as personalities and matured in their works.(In different ways - because the way from darkness into light leads through different colours, it is always individual and there is no pattern - religious or artistic, philosophical, scientific or whatever). The painter is the witness, ascertaining the status quo, but also - by his work - proving that he is - in spite of his age - a real companion of people he paints.(...)

“The Polish Daily“, London, 1996 Stanislaw Bigda

   (...) For this artist, landscape is only an excuse to deal with what really is the theme of his art., namely constructing the light and space through the extremely brave use of colour. Being a high-class professional, in his painting Kaldowski creates an atmosphere but at the same time strictly avoids sentimentality.

   (...) Just like Cybis and Cezanne, Kaldowski consequently deals with all the formal aspects of his work – in his genuine but at the same time spontaneous creative effort he even allows himself to be guided by the painting. The artist purposely „forgets" the theme – the flowers, trees and clouds are not what is significant - for Kaldowski the only important thing is the integrity of his painting as a living interdependent entity. The theme and the atmosphere arise as a natural consequence of fulfiling this basic condition. The works of Mariusz Kaldowski are pictorial poems extolling the world of colour.

   (...) Every painting of this artist transmits this peaceful and joyful light, which makes the people who leave the exhibition spiritually uplifted.

extract from the review of the „In memory" exhibition, “The Polish Daily“,
London, 1997 Andrzej A. Borkowski

   (...) This search for a tangible concrete is a search in self and a search of self, it is looking into the memory which generalizes and synthetizes, (...). However, what always fills the paintings is the magic power of emotions, felt not only by the author but also by the unaware of all the personal memories anonymous public. The intimate warmth and lyricism emanating from these images suspend criticism.
It is not the time for claims and resentments. There is no room for patronizing satire and mocking, which could distance the artist from this world.

   (...)The outcome is the exhibition which is hard to dislike. Exotic in its private intimacy, it is also a model of world which is carried inside each and every one of us.

   “The Polish Daily“, London, 1998 Stanislaw Bigda

(...) His „Self-portrait" is an enormous close-up of the face. The artist thinks that the human face contains the whole life experience. Inscribed on it is the time and so are all our accomplishments, longings, disappointments and hopes... In „Self-portrait" the painter treats the human face as a landscape of the soul whereas in his work from the upcoming series „People are like gardens" Mariusz Kaldowski attributes meaning to the whole body. The artist attempts to paint a person as a garden. A garden which is mysterious, changing and beautiful – not fully known part of each of us. (...)

extract from the review of the „Panorama of the past"
exhibition, 1998 S. Paula Jadwiga

 (...) Meanwhile, ordinary „living people" are looking at us from the portraits, and although belonging more to the past, they are full of affirmation of life. Real faces rejuvenated by the brisk blueness of colour and the light of revival spread in various parts of the model or the painting, allow the viewer to participate discreetly in their humanity and witness the private mystery which had taken place in themselves. The characters of „the past" are temporarily immobilized in front of the artist – in their work environment, in their activities or in their calm but at the same time dynamic awaiting for an encounter with the Unknown. This is what emanates from all their eyes looking intently either at the public or at some friendly and familiar distance. Some of the distinctive features are: the pose and the arrangement of the body as well as the hands – the personality image: calm, still, humbly folded, awaiting the farewell embraces, modestly hidden behind the frames of the painting, animated with the emotions, relaxed, resting after finished work...

   From the admiration of the portraits our thoughts turn to their creator. Like a boomerang the question kept coming back: what did the artist feel, did a feeling of loss accompany him after translating so many rich and complicated life-stories into the language of art within only a few months – and these are not ordinary photographic portraits, but realistic images characterized by the impressionism of Renoir, Cezanne and Monet, the Cracow’s school of capists – of which Mariusz Kaldowski is a disciple and follower – as well as his own artistic style. (...)
 

„People are like gardens, gardens are like people",
“Gazeta Niedzielna“, London, 2004 M. Mazurek

People are like gardens

   Man and woman created. They live in separate worlds but, according to the Idea, their worlds require completion. In the Bible: bone from my bones, flesh from my flesh. They strive for unity, they constitute a gift and a mystery for one another. Coming from the Garden of Happiness they carry in themselves its memory and its imprint, its platonic idea, which they continuously reproduce in order to create an earthly paradise.
   They resemble gardens. Closed in the form and space imposed on them, hospitable towards strangers visiting their world - frequently for a longer period of time - and yet incapable of understanding their distinct natures thoroughly. Very often defenseless against a brutal interference from the outside. Affected by the changes of time - the four seasons: the freshness of a spring birth, the colourful summer of growing up, the fruiting autumn of maturity, and winter - freezing the vital powers, nonetheless soothing and easing the pain. They exist thanks to the Light. They head towards it. The paths on their faces acquire direction, the spaces of their memories become overgrown, the pools of their eyes gain depth, and the branches of their bodies become united. . .
   Kaldowski's artistic technique resembles the one used by the impressionists. It is so delicate, full of light, air, and colour that it easily reveals to the viewer the mystery of man. The mystery of femininity and masculinity, so distant from each other, even hostile and strange to one another, and still, due to their complementary natures, so close.
   Symbolic, disquieting, beautiful, and intriguing.

   Opposite the entrance to the exhibition we can see its logo - "The Cross", a unique representation of human life and, at the same time, the crossing of the feminine and masculine natures. At the very centre - a rose - the artistic symbol of love, also denoting suffering and sacrifice. The beauty and fragility of petals, the pain of thorns protecting from destruction. Its round form brings to mind the Chinese sign of i-ching symbolising an infinite penetration and mutual completion of seeming opposites, such as darkness and light or femininity and masculinity.
   The rhythm of the triads of this unusual altar depicts the sacrum related to the passage of time and human existence.
   The vertical dimension of the cross presents her and him: delicate contours, spiritual portraits, their bodies entirely oriented towards something which exceeds their desires.
   The horizontal dimension stands for the earthly part of man's story. To the left, a man. Active, strong, ready to make decisions, lying in wait to jump as if a sudden flame - this is his first young silhouette. In the pose of an embryo, turned away from the outside world, focused and concentrated on himself just like Rodin's "The Thinker" - this is his second phase - mature and reflective. He appears only as a fragment of a person he is - the profile and landscape of the face reveal experience he has been through in life. Dark and dynamic, he constitutes the male part of Nature and the male part of the Chinese sign. Before him: fire, ash, devastation that can be a menace if not completed with the soft and wise power of femininity. He awaits the one who will put an end to his eternal seclusion. This is exactly what happens in the following stage in the form of a rose uniting the two dimensions, resembling the one in the surrealistic painting by René Magritte. It happens in a garden just like in "Heaven" - a beautiful film based on the script written by Krzysztof Kieslowski where he and she meet to create the fullness under the tree of Eden filled with both holiness and sin.
   To the right, a woman. Immersed in light just like one of the blessed depicted in a medieval triptych. At first she is silent. Looking into the glow she trustfully awaits her youth. Opened to the world, she embodies the bright side of Nature. Next, she is carefully focused on others - this is the maturity bringing a new life. Eventually her portrait: open, written down with the most beautiful writing of passing, yet good moments, the tabula rasa of her face.
   He and she. In the rain of roses which fell on the saints in the Apocrypha. Inscribed in the cross and in the circle of time. Inscribed in love and suffering. Inscribed in a moment and infinity.
   In the painting "Together" he and she with each other, yet separated. Her face is directed towards the world and light, open and bright, while he is closed and concentrated on himself like a child. Nonetheless, together they form a strange fullness of light and darkness. They are separate, but they need one another. Like in the painting "The first touch" they overcome strangeness and become close.
   It seems that Kaldowski is more fascinated with the feminine side of the world. Its mysterious subtlety makes it beautiful and almost sacred to him. In "Good morning, glare of the sun" and even more in "You are beautiful" time opens a woman just like the sun opens the petals of a delicate flower. The naïve curiosity of the world, the awaking and growing up filled with apprehension, sudden delight, and, finally, the beauty of being conscious of oneself. In one of Kaldowski's oil portraits we see a female face with her awaiting silhouette sketched with a feather within the facial contours. In the painting "Towards the light" the male figure reaches out his hand in the manner of Michelangelo's fresco depicting the Creation of Adam in the Sistine Chapel. In this way the painting becomes a portrait of a mature man with eyes full of depth, resembling the portrait of Tischner, the artist's friend.
   The return to the sources of creation and, through good and wise life, to the fullness of humanity. Faces - gardens of memory, blooming with affection, suffering, thoughts, sometimes overgrown with the weeds of stupidity and ignorance. The man and every moment of his life swelling with the anticipation of the unity with Love he was created from and for.

Gardens are like people

   Rhododendrons, Holland and Regents Park, bridges in Hampstead bringing to mind the mood of Monet's works. Portraits of flowers and trees - landscapes which, just like people, are distinctive due to their individual personalities and unique characters designed by their creators and shaped by the passing time.
   Some of them - covered with human traces. Urban gardens with children playing football and owners of dogs sitting on benches. Cities look just like gardens with their streets full of colourful stalls and ice-cream shops.
   Human paradises, the reflections of Eden, have their own beauty and their peculiar character. In Kaldowski's paintings - urban scenes, miniatures of everyday life in a metropolis, emotional paintings of gardens, trees and flowers. Traditional techniques - oil paintings, watercolours, pastels, and drawings made with a feather create sunny and gentle spaces inviting the viewer to immerse in them completely.
   Some believe that a place has its own memory and soul and that it can be either good or bad. Places are certainly either dark or white and who knows, perhaps even ‘feminine’ or ‘masculine’...
   Gardens are like people. They undergo the changes inflicted by time, they are defenseless against destructive forces, they are beautiful and fragile, changing and constant, filled with the sacred and the profane. Flowers creating gardens resemble human beings - they are sensitive to atmosphere and care. They strive for light. They live due to Love.