About Artist

I was lucky to be born into a family boasting artistic traditions of long standing. I could admire and learn from my father, a well-known painter and draughtsman, and his sister, one of the most appreciated Polish graphic artists, Maria Hiszpańska-Neumann. I used to eavesdrop on learned discussions about art and breathe the atmosphere.
Now, as an avid traveller, I tend to direct my first steps in a new place to a gallery, a museum, or a local treasure of architecture. My main inspirations include impressionism, fovism, and expressionism. I admire ancient and those medieval, from Greece, Cyprus, Italy, especially from Rome and Ravenna. As for mosaics and collages on paper I should mention those by Matisse, Braque, Wnukowa, but also a few pictures made with flower petals in Vienna and butterfly wings in Paris.

As far as I know, I am the only artist in Poland who creates paper mosaics. I owe the idea and the technique to my daughter, Olga Ketling-Szemley. She is a brilliant artist working abroad, creating her mosaic-collages, very different from mine.

Mosaic is a time-consuming technique. It owes its charm to the shimmering colour effect, while the uneven surface reflects the light in many ways, depending on its structure. The complexity and slow pace required here, unlike broad strokes of a paintbrush, lend time for reflection and leisure to savour the process.

Until 2010 I covered the surface of a carton with small, multi-shaped pieces of paper. Then followed the period of experimentation on canvas, which lasts to this day. Usually my collages have rough edges, torn with the fingers. More seldom they are neat, cut with scissors. The background may be painted smooth with acrylic, or rough, convect, created with acrylics and ceramic contour paint. All these modifications of the technique allow for diversity of my works, making each piece unique.

My works are figurative, rich in content, sometimes hiding a secret or a joke for the observer to discover. These multiple meanings are very enjoyable to me, as they constitute the source of surprising interpretations from those who care to look closely and reflect. My collages are like myself, they are sunny. I have often heard opinions that they emanate positive energy, good vibes.

The idea for a collage comes suddenly, as a vague vision. Where does it come from? From a shape half glimpsed, a shadow, a story, my imagination. This vague outline lasts only a few moments, to vanish if not captured. Then another follows… I find the creative process exciting in itself, I enjoy the play of imagination which changes and enriches the final outcome. I like to see the work emerge slowly, seemingly ready after a few days, but in fact requiring many more glimpses and corrections until it is truly satisfying.