A selection of critical comments on the work of Mariusz Kaldowski

(...) There are painters whose vision of the painting appears only whilst it is being made, through many strenuous and arduous trials and searching.  However it seems that Kaldowski creates his vision in his imagination before transferring it onto the canvas. This ability, the ability of seeing an image before it appears as a material and artistic piece of art, explains to us something which is so visible in his art – that is the unity of colour in his painting, the perfectly grasped balance, the harmony and concord of tints.

The ease and bravery of his handling of colour - its richness, its liveliness and its vibrant abundance create a feeling of freshness and charm in his painting. In this impulsive vividness of colours and contours there is no space left for pedantic smoothing, for excessively detailed strokes (...)

However in spite of the fact that our age imposes on us such hurry and almost expected 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 - in line with Cezanne's definition - colour. Moving, vibrating, restless colour - the qualities characteristic of intensive and ever-changing life.

There is one more highly important feature of this painting, the value of which is hard to estimate in the formal language of modern art critique - that is its humanity. The artist directs kindness and friendliness to the viewer, a wish to know and understand them.  He has the desire to build his art from light and colour, the tone and temperature of which signify life.

But first and foremost 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 abstract forms, an always present and immortal theme in art.(...)

Extract from the review of the “Velis Passis”, Cracow, 1994           
Writer -  Ryszard Kapuscinski

           
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.

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

           
(...) 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 humanity (...)

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

(...) For this artist, landscape is only an excuse to deal with what really is the theme of his art, namely constructing light and space through the extremely brave use of colour. Being a first-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 fulfilling 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.

“The Polish Daily“, London, 1996                                                               
 Stanislaw Bigda

(...).what always fills the paintings is the magic power of emotions, felt not only by the artist but also by the anonymous viewer, unaware of all the personal memories the paintings containts. 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 an exhibition which is hard to dislike. Exotic in its private intimacy, it is also a model of a world which is carried inside each and every one of us.

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

(...) His “Self-portrait" is an enormous close-up of his face. The artist thinks that the human face contains the whole life experience.  Inscribed on it is the passage of 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 – a not fully known part of each of us. (...)

“The Polish Daily”, London, 1998                                                              
Stanislaw Bigda

(...) 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 waiting 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: 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 kapists (polish colourists) – of which Mariusz Kaldowski is a disciple and follower – as well as his own artistic style. (...)

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

Copyright K Kaldowski ©