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master

                     MAGdALENA bAk

                     LIvES AND wORkS IN LUBLIN, POLAND

        SEARCH THE ARTIST ONLINE           www.icondata.triennial.cracow.pl/polishprint/


                                                                         The graphics of Magdalena Bak reveal values associated with
                                                                         genuine works of art: a clear intellectual message, individuality
                                                                         of style, fine arts poetics, carefully conceived compositions,
                                                                         and a drive for perfection. These values deserve mention here,
                                                                         since young artists who are at the beginning of their own artistic
                                                                         career tend, not so infrequently, to fall into the trap of extreme
                                                                         gimmicks  of  novelty  expressed  in  a  weird  form  which  hides
                                                                         nothing but a terse and superficial artistic message.

                                                                         Magdalena Bak’s independent approach to art is something that
                                                                         has evolved only recently. Her diploma work completed in 2000
                                                                         in the Institute of Fine Arts in the Fine Arts Department at Maria
                                                                         Curie Skłodowska University in Lublin, Poland came in the form
                                                                         of  a series of serigraphs entitled “A za wami głebokie cienie”
                                                                         [Long  Shadows  Behind  You].  Bak  seems  to  have  remained
                                                                         faithful to the technique employed in her diploma work. This
                                                                         can be attributed to her professional affiliations – the artist is
                                                                         employed in the Department of Design graphics and Serigraphy
                                                                         at MCSU in Lublin – and to the appeal of the technique itself
                                                                         which has its ardent supporters for at least half a century.
                                                                         Since  the  beginning  of  her  artistic  career,  Magdalena  Bak
                                                                         focuses on selected thematic cycles which allow her to develop
                                                                         a given motif into sequences, presenting it form various points
                                                                         of view and, frequently in a confrontational manner, and finally
                                                                         linking individual works of art into sets with a clearly delineated
                                                                         leitmotif cleverly captured in the title.

                                                                         It  is  this  highly  precise  manner  of  formulating  thoughts,
                                                                         based on a deliberate placement of signs in an isolated and
                                                                         yet  clearly  defined  reality  that  constitutes  Magdalena  Bak’s
                                                                         unique characteristics of her art forms. She has the power of
                                                                         creating art from down to earth objects abstracted from specific
                                                                         situations and endowed with a highly metaphorical meaning.
                                                                         Her suggestive works are a reflection of her own reality and
                                                                         very personal reflections.
                                                                         These highly suggestive and semantically loaded graphics by
                                                                         Magdalena  Bak  suggest  a  genuine  talent  in  the  making  and
                                                                         excellent prospects for the future.
                                                                                                             Jerzy zywicki


                                                                          ...FOr eVerYtHING eLse tHere’s masterCarD, 2007
                                                                         SILkSCREEN 42x31,5 IN. / 120x80 CM.
                                                                                                      PaDereWsKI street 10,
                                                                                          2007 SILkSCREEN 42x31,5 IN. / 120x80 CM. 
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                                                                 masters of today
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