Marcin Gregorczuk (alias Blubird), born 1977 in Poland,

(lives and creates in Warsaw)

A self-taught artist who has been working with easel painting only for a decade now. His style, original and easily recognisable to art connoisseurs, does not fit into the universal definition of amateur art, escaping the conventional clichés used to describe non-professional artists. His understanding of painting goes far beyond technical skills and artistic prowess. He sees his innate talent as a precious gift which he wishes to preserve in a unique form, maintaining a sense of independence, creative freedom and being true to himself.

His paintings follow the artistic tradition of capturing the human image on canvas, yet present it in a modern format, inspired by the aesthetic qualities of Art Deco and graphic design composition. He opposes the alienation of contemporary art, which is being artificially pushed beyond the understanding of the non-elite audience. In line with the idea behind his first solo exhibition, he wants to create paintings ‘for the people’, and leave it up to them to evaluate and interpret his works.

The artist’s characteristic series of nudes and female portraits refer, with their irregular, cubist form, to contemporary sculpture, condensed onto a two-dimensional plane. Despite using a style based on geometric curves, he avoids brutal deformation of the body, softening the sharpness of the contours with numerous ovals, arcs, ellipses and harmonious patches of colour. His remarkable female figures, portrayed in classic poses that emphasise their statuesque beauty, are shown without a traditional background or boudoir atmosphere. They resemble a collection of colourful butterflies, whose sophisticated beauty is best manifested against the stark display case of the painting. Sensual and elegant yet somewhat distanced, they set the aesthetic boundaries for unveiling intimacy while respecting the comfort of the beholder. The austerity of the means of expression and the clinical purity of the message, prevalent in the artist’s painterly style, indicate control and mastery of emotions. This disciplined structure is occasionally interrupted by dynamic and rough brushstrokes, an expression of the author’s vitality and vibrant personality.

The artist’s guiding principle is to build a dialogue with his audience not only in the visual sphere, but more importantly through the immaterial impact of the psychic power involved in the process of creation. For him, painting is a way of connecting the spiritual with the world of physical entities. The characters depicted in the paintings are a symbolic reflection of the energetic state of the artist at the time of creation. This energy is then released in contact with the audience, it embodies the beauty and harmony of the universe and, just as much as aesthetic qualities, constitutes the essence of artistic work.