Julia Białas
Julia Białas approaches painting as an intuitive and fluid process, working without strict preparatory sketches. While her early works focused on the human figure, her practice has evolved to incorporate animal and botanical motifs, which enrich the narrative dimension of her compositions. These creatures are not portrayed for their literal presence but serve as vessels for exploring stereotypes, symbolism, and subconscious associations. By placing figures alongside hybrid beings, she alters their contextual reading, creating a layered interplay between familiarity and ambiguity. Białas navigates the threshold between figuration and abstraction, allowing form and emotion to guide her compositions. Her work seeks to capture the elusive and transient aspects of human identity. Through subtle distortions and the depiction of beings in flux, she presents humanity as a creature in perpetual metamorphosis. Her paintings reflect a personal sense of creative fragmentation—an embrace of artistic chaos. For Białas, painting is not merely an act of representation but a deep immersion into the hidden, intangible layers of reality.
Katarzyna Strzykalska
Katarzyna Strzykalska creates oil paintings that engage in a critical dialogue with traditional hagiographic representations of saints—particularly female saints—by distorting the human body and form. Her work explores the tension between beauty and unease, deliberately juxtaposing aesthetic allure with elements that provoke discomfort or even disgust. A recurring theme in her practice is the notion of relics—their display, commodification, and treatment as artifacts of sacred tourism. A special focus within her oeuvre lies in votive and ex-voto imagery, which she approaches with fascination for their symbolism, clarity of message, and their often decorative or naively aesthetic qualities. Drawing inspiration from the architecture, iconography, and histories of regional Belgian churches and saints, she reinterprets these elements through a deeply personal lens. Strzykalska’s paintings evoke an intimate sense of disquiet—one tied to early encounters with depictions of suffering and sanctity. By revisiting her own memories and emotional responses, her work becomes an introspective exploration of spiritual ambivalence and bodily reverence.
Interconnection
Julia and Katarzyna will both convert their local experiences into new art during July 2025. The gifted artists, who completed their education at the Magdalena Abakanowicz University of Arts in Poznań, are now prepared to advance in the international art scene. We are immensely delighted to have them as our guests at Le Charbonnage for an intensive art residence, and we eagerly anticipate the exhibition of their works in the near future.
