HOMECOMING, SOLO SHOW

BWA CENTRE FOR UNIQUE CERAMICS CONTEMPORARY ART GALLERY

WAŁBRZYCH-POLAND, JANUARY 2025

Histology of the Soul Series of Paintings exhibited in collaboration with Prof. Stanisław Bartkiewicz from Wrocław University of Science and Technology, 2024

Prof. Bartkiewicz designed custom scanning systems for the paintings using UV-responsive and thermochromic pigments.

The works are created on silk using photochromic and thermochromic paints, making them highly sensitive to light and temperature. Initially appearing monochrome, the surfaces gradually transform, developing colour when exposed to light or heat. This shift activates the works over time, emphasizing change, perception, and the instability of the image.

The "Histology of the Soul" series is a powerful exploration of human essence, drawing direct inspiration from microscopic images of the body’s cells and tissues. While traditional histology studies anatomy, this collection applies the term to the soul—the deep, intimate core that defines our physicality and form. The series vividly connects the body's internal state to its environment through its unique media: photochromic pigments that instantaneously intensify with UV light, and thermochromic colours that visibly react to temperature. This duality mirrors how the living body responds to external factors like light, heat, and stress with immediate physiological shifts, transforming the canvas into a dynamic record of unseen internal states.

The work was created during the intense introspection of the 2019–2021 pandemic and lockdown periods, driven by the artist’s decades-long experience with an Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM)—a condition whose visible reaction to environmental stimuli directly dictated the choice of reactive painting techniques. This exploration of the personal microcosm led to a technical collaboration with Professor Stanisław Bartkiewicz of the Wrocław University of Science and Technology. The partnership resulted in custom lighting and scanning installations that illuminate each painting, revealing the full, vibrant spectrum of the photochromic and thermochromic reactions, thereby allowing the "Histology of the Soul" to finally "see the light" and share its intimate colours with the viewer.