To create art is like to love; hard to understand, sometimes difficult, a burden and a pleasure, a need and a thresher, a dependency and a freedom, that can make you grow, or loose you.

Wiec ten tekst dla Ciebie Tatusku, bo dzieki temu ze we mnie wierzyles- jestem jaka jestem;  silna, kreatywna i szczesliwa.

My art is probably a product of my own life-story. Born in Ober-Schlesien in Poland, grown up under communism, daughter of a chemist father and a violin-playing medical doctor mother of German descent. Being 12 years old I moved to West Germany. There I experienced being a foreigner for the first time. Three years later when moving back I was also a foreigner in Poland since we came from “the Rich West”. Six years later I moved back to Germany to study in Berlin. Nine years later to Switzerland. Three years later to Belgium… I was a foreigner for 21 years.

I have created a symbol that captures this state of mind - a sense of rootlessness that seems to be symptomatic today. A simple figure, almost banal or kitschy called Rika. She reminds of the impossibility of finding our identity and place in the global world. She is a simple, naïve figure. She just longs for love, recognition and belonging. But she is faced with the hard realities of Western life, having to follow the “better future plans”. We have to be flexible, strong and easy going. Rika tries hard to adapt. Her ears are shaped like hearts because of her big need for love and her huge eyes doesn’t stop to wonder. Her big head and torso houses the huge brain and an immense soul. Her small hands and legs have no power to stop wars or influence political decisions.

Rika stands for values like sensibility, simplicity, sincerity, tolerance, friendship and love.

Why do I paint the things I paint? My figures are often somewhat lost in space - in big abstract landscapes, or simply in a forest - with wide open wondering eyes, searching for something to hold on to, sensitive, vulnerable, insecure, longing for love and affiliation. Lately I place them in abstract spaces, because the world itself is neither logic nor safe, but still beautiful. And I feel fear about the future of our planet and us…

What is my current work about? Lately, many have asked me to explain the
women animals, or animalistic creatures with a feminine human touch (the
“Midsummer Night’s Dream” pictures series). It’s all about love, seduction, summer affairs or fantasies, fateful coincidences, pain over the impossibilities, irresistible temptations and what in the nature summer is: a triumph of passion,

Sitting in the cafeteria in the city on a hot summer night. Observing people, “smelling” the signals between them. Rules and conventions are melting
away, like the ice-cream that finds its way through our fingers, being caught
by the tongue…

Many of my previous pictures have been about pain. I always thought that
painting is born out of pain since it is based on the same word. Now, in this
series, I focus on the pleasure (still often in affinity with pain). I want my
figures to portray the sensuality and passion but also the mystery and
possible danger hidden in a woman being.

Sitting in the cafeteria in the city on a hot summer night. Observing people, “smelling” the signals between them. Rules and conventions are melting
away, like the ice-cream that finds its way through our fingers, being caught
by the tongue…

Many of my previous pictures have been about pain. I always thought that
painting is born out of pain since it is based on the same word. Now, in this
series, I focus on the pleasure (still often in affinity with pain). I want my
figures to portray the sensuality and passion but also the mystery and
possible danger hidden in a woman being.

Mothers
Do we really understand the news we are watching? The abuse of power,
wars and killings, ignorance and intolerance. The sensitivity of motherhood
helps me see things clearer. I want to show the connections between different aspects of life. The feeling of helplessness, like my women without arms. Strong and powerfull mothers but powerless to prevent the actions of their sons - politicians and soldiers…

The five figures symbolise various aspects of power. They are all
large, strong women that at first glance seem to be very powerful. But
maybe they are not. They have no arms. They are unable to control the
acts of their sons. The mothers are big because they represent the human values. And big is their role in raising the powerful men. The men are on the top of the figures, like branches of a tree where the mother is the root nourishing them. The men are made small because their motives for fighting are small. They fight for power in various ways, illustrated by each of the figures.
Figure 1. Mother and politics
A politician without eyes and ears screaming from the top of the figure. The
strong and warm mother is powerless to prevent the actions of her sons -
politicians and soldiers.
Figure 2. Mother and religion
A priest or imam without eyes and ears screaming from the top of the figure
holding up the rules for life in a book. Are the rules made for women?
Figure 3. Mother and speculation
Is the banker a holy Madonna who we have always trusted, or a pig? What
did they do with the money?
Figure 4. Mother and media
The power of media is forming our minds, creates and twists the news and
shapes opinions. Do we really know what we know and why? Where did we
get our opinions?
Figure 5. Mother and environment
Consumption is here symbolised by the innocent fun world of Disney. The
head of Mickey as a skeleton stamped over the map, symbolising the
dangers of our lifestyle to the environment.

Do we really understand the news we are watching? The abuse of power, wars and killings, ignorance and intolerance. The sensitivity of motherhood helps me see things clearer. I want to show the connections between different aspects of life. The feeling of helplessness, like my women without arms, screaming or intensively staring at you. Strong and warm mothers but powerless to prevent the actions of their sons - politicians and soldiers. It goes on and on…

Seid laengerer Zeit stelle ich mir die Frage, was ist es was die Menschen
verschiedene Herkunft (Religion, Kultur) harmonisch miteinander leben
lassen könnte. In den westlichen Industriegesellschaften sind die
Imigrantenzahlen gewachsen und Ihre Bräuche, Religionen und Traditionen
mitgebracht worden, parallel hat die kapitalistische Kultur des Westens
gelernt sich an neuen Werten zu orientieren die dem Arbeits und
Gesellschaftsleben der Zeit entwachsen sind. Nun gibt es Konflikte
zwischen den verschiedenen Befoelkerungsgruppen die der Erziehung in
verschiedenen Wertwelten zuzuschreiben sind. Dennoch stellt sich die Frage
was sind das für Werte? Was sind die Unterschiede und ob man nicht als
Lösung einen Fokus auf gemeinsame Werte beginnen sollte, die Humanitären
und Ethischen.

Der Titel „Wertanlagen“ ist uns Künstlern dieser Ausstellung in einer
Diskussion entsprungen, in der wir uns die Werte aufzählten und versucht
haben auf einen Nenner zu bringen was ist den heute noch für einen
modernen Menschen wichtig von all dem was als Werte zu benennen möglich
ist. Erstaunlicherweise sind das immer noch die alten Wörter wie Liebe,
Freundschaft, Loyalität, Toleranz, Ehrlichkeit, Respekt (…), aber auch
Mut, Kreativität, Zielstrebigkeit und Ausdauer, Entschlossenheit und
Flexibilität, Belastbarkeit und Gelassenheit, Spontanitat und
Beherrschung. Nicht schwer zu erkennen dass einiges gegensaezlich klingt,
die antwort ist dann der Mass.

Wir haben uns geeinigt, dass wir die Werte noch mall, alle die uns
einfallen, wie Karten auf dem Tisch legen und versuchen die Menschen zum
denken anzuregen was für sie persönlich wichtiger ist als andere.

Jeder von uns spielt mit den Werten, flechtet sie mit in die Arbeiten ein.
Ich habe die Werte der Frau“ in den Schoss gelegt“. Die Frau ist die Wiege
der Werte, sie ist als Mutter die erste, die einen kleinen Menschen das
Gute und Böse „erklärt“. Einerseits ist das eine große Macht, andererseits
auch eine grosse Verantwortung

Ein russisches Spielzeug hat mich zu der Idee inspiriert aus der
froehlichen Aufstehmaenchen eine erwachsene Frau zu machen. Es ist eine
bunte Figur die der Werbewelt zu entspringen scheint jedoch etwas
Beunruhigendes hat. Die Frauenfigur steht symbolisch durch ihr Gewicht
fest am Boden, diese Bodenstaendigkeit der Frau ist aber nicht unbewegt,
sie balanciert. Diese Balanz der Figur ist ganz wichtig, ohne ins extreme
zu fallen reagiert sie auf die äußeren Anregungen kommt aber immer wieder
zurück zu der vertikalen, egal was passiert, sie bleibt konstant stehen.

Der Figur fehlen die Hände, sie scheint Machtlos zu sein, vielleicht weil
sie die Kriege nicht stoppen kann. dennoch spielt sie eine große Rolle und
diese Rolle, der Frau als Mutter, ist das gemeinsame in allen Kulturen,
wie auch ihre ewige Macht als Erzieherin und Zuflüsterin.

Ist das ein Lachen oder ein Schrei? Das lasse ich der freien
Interpretation offen.

Meine Arbeit ist eine Reflexion, dass es Frauen sind, die die Werte
„Schaukeln“ und zwar in allen Religionen und Kulturen gleich, obwohl sie
in manchen Gesellschaften machtloser sind als in anderen.

Die vertikale Achse zu der die Schaukelpuppe immer wieder zurück kommt,
wie stark man sie auch anschubst, ist in meiner Arbeit die Achse der
gemeinsamen humanitären Werte. in jeder Kultur und Subkultur, Religion und
Tradition eine Kontinuierliche Linie wahre, dann hätten wir endlich eine
Sprache gefunden mit der sich vieles erklären und verbessern lassen würde.

Es ist den Versuch Wert sich die gemeinsamen Werte neu bewusst zu werden.

The dogs-installation is about the conflicts based on religions or nationalism.
The dogs are constructed over the old fashion wooden swing horses that children play with, a toy that is familiar in many cultures. The toy represents innocence, but it has turned into something nasty. Religion or nationalism, which had good intentions in the outset, may turn into brutal fights.
The swinging movements also remind us that these forces come and go, creating destruction on the way and not bringing us forward.

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Galerie “Bilderwelten” Berlin

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I joined a group exhibition dealing with the term “Crisis”. The economical and social processes in Germany had an impact on everybody - having fun and / or going down?

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The “intension of” a form and the “tension between” two forms were the starting points. Two cultures are like two forms standing next to each other, being in tension. “Form in tension” and “form intension”…

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June 2003, Gallery “Goldfisch”, Berlin

I was refering to the economic situation of the last months in Germany. The mood in the society is oppressive, something has to happen, there is a lot of speculation… and waiting, we are still waiting for Godot…

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