World Fine Art Professionals and their Key-Pieces, 510 - Michalina Małolepsza
michalina – 1-
World Fine Art Professionals and their Key-Pieces, 510 – Michalina Małolepsza
In Art Centre Schiedam I am looking at a series of linocuts by Michalina Małolepsza, while behind me – at a large table – a number of women led by Michalina are trying to master the art of the linocut. Linocut or linoleum cut is a relief printing technique in which an image is cut out of a piece of linoleum, working in mirror image. It was part of an exhibition of new members of the Stichting KunstWerkt.
michalina – 2
The images on Michalina’s linocuts illustrate her internal journey, an attempt to process the events of the past years and to tame conflicting feelings. All works were created in 2024. We see many heads and in and above those heads all sorts of things are happening. Mainly struggles.
michalina – 3
The inner world of man
Her work is about man in society, says Michalina. “But above all about man himself. The inner world of man. His/her thoughts, emotions, desires, the pursuit of goals and the ability to reflect.”
In her prints we see a woman with a tangle of threads above her head, a naked woman who is taking root with an apple instead of a face and a snake around it, a woman who is just holding her head above blue water, her hands over her eyes, a woman with an entire city on top of her head, including a boat, a mill, the Schiedam Liduina Basilica and a cat and a rat on her shoulders, a woman from whose forehead an enormous forest sprouts, a man and a woman next to each other and a large white cloud appears above their noses, a woman with a bomb on her head that is about to explode.
michalina – 4
Life is getting more complex
We have to meet so many demands, she says. “We have to be good enough for the children, for the friends, for the employers, for the outside world, for the whole world. Then it is very important to look at your emotions and process them. For that you need a good insight into yourself.” It seems that life has become easier with AI (Artificial Intelligence), but that is an illusion. “Life is becoming more and more complex. It has become incredibly complex.”
michalina – 5
A gouge with emotion
Michalina about her choice for the linocut: “I always wanted to paint. At the Willem de Kooning Academy I took painting lessons, but I didn’t find them that interesting. Fortunately, the Academy had a Graphic Workshop at the time with Hans Andringa as head teacher. In addition to the linocut technique, he introduced us to his poetic view of the world, with an eye for sensitive matters.”
michalina – 6
When you make a drawing, you immediately see what it is, with a linocut it is different. “With linocuts you can use lines to express emotions. You do that by using a gouging knife to make a gouge in the piece of linoleum and you can do that with emotion. You don’t know what it will be during the process, because you work in mirror image. So you have to plan very well, and at the same time develop your own signature. It is a nice feeling when you see that energy comes into your image.”
Her first linocut images turned out to be very energetic and also very free. “Every time I tried something different. That is still the case. Sometimes I come back to something I did before. The faces that can be seen here are made in the same way as in my graduation work.” She does not think she will continue doing this for the rest of her life, because it has physical consequences for her shoulder and her hand. She took a break a while ago so that she could recover.
michalina – 7
Does Michalina have a key work?
Not in terms of concept, but in terms of technique, she says. It is a work that was made in 2008 during a Masterclass by Ondine de Kroon in Pulchri Studio. It is called ‘The Day’. “It depicts a friend of mine. She wanted to tell something, something very exciting. This work came out of that. By making it, I became freer in the technique and I have gratefully made use of that in all my works from that moment on.”
michalina – 8
How long has she been an artist?
“Since 2011, the year I graduated from the Willem de Kooning Academy. But I have actually been an artist all my life. When I was six, I thought, sitting under an ugly plum tree, ‘what do I want to be?’. I started having images in my head. It was not self-evident that I would be able to become a visual artist. There were no artists in my family. For a long time I thought: ‘then I will become a designer’. When I was 19, I moved from Poland to the Netherlands. I met an architect. I went to the Willem de Kooning Academy for Interior Design. After a while that became illustration. I was still searching.”
michalina – 9
What is her experience with the art world?
“After graduating, I became a member of the artists’ association Regio Art Rijnmond in Spijkenisse. I participated in many exhibitions. I also participated in the Kralingen Art Route. I am a member of Grafisch Atelier Minnigh in the De Kroon building in Delfshaven. I participated in various Graphic Biennales, including the International Juried Print Exhibition, New Grounds Gallery in Albuquerque, In the Graphic Magazine RAAM (no. 18#3), there is an article ‘Geworteld in de Grafiek’, in which Hans Andringa discusses my work.
Furthermore, I am connected to the Polish Community in the Netherlands and in particular the Polish artists living here. We have many exhibitions. On February 2, the opening of ‘Polska Pasja’ (Polish Passion) was in the Art Flower Museum in Aalsmeer.”
michalina – 10
What is her philosophy?
“People are a little different every day than they were yesterday. I make images with an intention. When I look at them after a while, I see something different in the images. The images teach me new aspects, they also develop. On the one hand, an image is static, but on the other hand, you can communicate with the image all the time. The energy with which you make the image always comes back. The images are still alive.”
Images
1)Apple Tree 2.0 (2020), 2) Where I Wanted to Live (2024), 3) Migration – Trips Inside Humainity (2017), 4) The Day (2010), 5) Genesis (2024), 6) Inside Out (2017). 7) Together (2024), 8) After E. Munch (2024), 9) Gabi (2011), 10) Portrait photo Michalina
https://www.michalina.nl/
https://www.instagram.com/milinoart/
https://www.instagram.com/grafischatelierminnigh/?hl=nl
https://www.facebook.com/michalina.malolepsza/
https://www.facebook.com/events/1706075733268930/1706075769935593/
https://inzaken.eu/2025/02/01/de-linosneden-van-michalina-malolepsza/
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