Artist Information
Elzbieta Krawecka
Within these paintings, movement and space pose a question which pertains to entering a work where place and time are undefined. What is required is something personal; a thought, a color, an ephemeral quality of sunlight... a timeless sky as a universal space of collective memory.
With their low horizon lines, sculpted cloud formations and chiaroscuro lighting, Elzbieta’s swelling skyscapes recall the compositional techniques reminiscent of Van Ruisdael’s View of Haarlem from the Dunes at Oveveen (1670). Continuing the tradition of seventeenth-century Dutch landscape paintings, where the sky or water fills almost three-quarters of the picture space, Elzbieta’s personal take on the landscape is further touched by the quality of her own contemporaneity and nostalgia for turner’s subtle treatment of light and space, Caravaggio’s dramatic use of tenebresco, Monet’s organization of tone and pattern, and the forceful energy of nineteenth-century Polish painters like Chelmonski, Gierymski and Kotsis.
Elzbieta's paintings depict large open spaces, such as skies and surfaces, defined by pattern formations which seem to always be on the brink of change.
Her skyscapes are an ongoing exploration of the nature of light and its potential to describe space in terms of movement. In her approach to the ever-changing subject matter of landscape, Elzbieta strives to capture the constant movement of the skies and of light itself, which results in an atmospheric blurring of boundaries between masses of land, bodies of water, and sky - between solid and void, matter and light.
At times seeping with the rich hues of a sublime sunset or the brooding darkness of an impending storm the paintings are at once inviting and ominous to the viewer. Despite the variance among Elzbieta’s skyscapes, the ultimate thesis underlying her series is the ubiquitous nature of the sky. This is to say, the sky refers to a universal space of collective, rather than individual, memory.
Elzbieta was born in Krakow and raised in Poland and the Middle East. She is now based in Toronto.
Her exposure to different cultures gave her an appreciation for travel, and by moving to Canada to attend the Ontario College of Art and Design, she developed a love for the Canadian landscape. This background is strongly reflected in her work as an oil painter.
Elzbieta uses thick and opaque paint, often applied with a palette knife, alongside translucent glazes of thinner washes. While experimenting with the technique and continuing to pursue travel, which inspires her work, she strives to continue pushing the boundaries of landscape painting and developing her own contemporaneity.
Perhaps as a natural response to the vastness of the North American continent, coupled with the vacuity of the Kuwaiti desert, her paintings depict large areas of open spaces such as skies or water, defined by pattern formations.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
• 2019 Aglow - Bugera Matheson Gallery AB
• 2018 Around The Corner - James Baird Gallery NL
• 2017 Unexpected Place - Galerie d'Avignon QC
• 2016 Recent Work - CFA ON
• 2016 Cloud Cover - James Baird Gallery NL
• 2014 Memory and illusion -Bugera Matheson AB
• 2014 Fluid Landscape - James Baird Gallery NL
• 2013 Anchor - James Baird Gallery NL
• 2012 Twig - James Baird Gallery NL
• 2011 Ode To The Sea - James Baird Gallery NL
• 2011 Coming Home- Diane Farris Gallery BC
• 2008 Fin del Mundo - Canada House Gallery AB
• 2007 with Amy Huestis - Diane Farris Gallery BC
• 2007 Dissolution - James Baird Gallery NL
• 2007 Fin del Mundo - De Long Gallery ON
• 2005 Spotlight - James Baird Gallery NL
• 2005 Sojourners '05 - Level Gallery ON
• 2005 New Work - Galerie d'Avignon Montreal QC
• 2004 Recent Work - James Baird Gallery NL
• 2003 Sojourners - Level Gallery ON
• 2002 Ingressio - James Baird Gallery NL
• 2002 Recent Paintings - Arcadia Gallery ON
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
• 2023 Federation Gallery BC
• 2023 SCA - Neilson Park creative Center ON
• 2023 Summer & Grace Gallery ON
• 2023/2020/2019/2018 Art Gallery of Hamilton ON
• 2017 James Baird Gallery NL
• 2015 Canadian Fine Art ON
• 2014 Bugera Matheson Gallery AB
• 2012 Water - James Baird Gallery NL
• 2011 5 Painters - Elissa Crystall Gallery BC
• 2010 Diane Farris Gallery BC
• 2009 Diane Farris Gallery BC
• 2009 Agnes Bugera Gallery AB
• 2008 Concurrence - Nuit Blanche ON
• 2008 De Long Gallery ON
• 2008 Artist Project, Liberty Grand ON
• 2008 Celebrating 10 Years - Galerie d'Avignon QC
• 2006 Made To Measure, Arts Etobicoke ON
• 2005 Toronto International Art Fair ON
• 2005 Toronto Inside Art Expo - Toronto Convention Center
• 2004 D'un ocean l'autre - Galerie d'Avignon
• 2003 About Love - Lonsdale Gallery ON
• 2003 Whistler Art Gallery, Whistler BC
• 2003/2002 Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition
• 2003 Nan Miller Gallery, Rochester NY
• 2003 Water - OSA 129th Juried Show ON
• 2001 OSA 127th Juried - John B Aird ON
• 2001/2000 Arcadia Gallery ON
• 1998 Reverence Lost - Wagner Rosenbaum
• 1995 Womens' Collective, Sympton Hall ON
• 1994 Ministry of Education ON
• 1994 Queens Quay Gallery ON
• 1994 J.D.Carrier Gallery ON
• 1993 Icon - Canadian Consulate General, Rome
COLLECTIONS
Questrade, ON
Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, QC
Maison St-Raphael, Outremont, QC
Portage - MICA Program, Montreal, QC
CHUS Fleurimont, Sherbrooke, QC
ColArt, Montreal, QC
Adventure Canada, ON
French & Associates, NL
Vancouver Golf Club, BC
Picture Plant Studio, NL
Banff Park Lodge, AB
AUCTIONS AND FUNDRAISERS
Sunbury Shores, St. Andrews, NB
Princess Margaret Lottery Home, ON
Taylor Statten Camping Bursary, ON
Snowflake Ball, ON
Art For Life, BC
YESinDEED, BC
Pouch Cove Foundation, NL