Dorota Łapa-Maik
Dorota Łapa-Maik is a contemporary painter who exhibits regularly in Poland. Notable exhibitions include solo features at Apteka Sztuki Gallery in Warsaw, U Jezuitów Gallery in Poznan, Tytano Foundation in Krakow as well as group shows at Przechodnia Gallery in Warsaw, and Vinci Gallery in Poznań. Her work has been critically written by curator Dr. Tomasz Wełna who described the paintings as “evocative of the world around us; mysterious yet familiar…a surprising and captivating journey, inciting self-discovery”.
Dreamy and painterly, Dorota’s works invoke a personal realm established with the foundation of somewhat recognizable objects such as florals and fauna. Expressive and full of bright colors, the paintings fill up a space with joy and excitement. Deep, rich hues are spread out against each other with loose and unique brushwork exemplifying abstraction but sometimes appearing as if based in reality with familiar forms.
The works are intended as isolation against the busyness and noise of contemporary society. Viewers will discover themselves escaped into a world of vivid imagination free from the confines of the stress found in reality. The works express synergies of basic forms and shapes, expressing both a loud and quiet atmosphere. Loud in the color schematics while quiet by shying away from familiarity. Elastic and angular, Dorota’s paintings have connotations with both pop art and abstract expressionism. The works appear to be carefully executed in terms of composition reflecting a design while at the same time conveying loose and improvised marks and execution in an expressive manner.
Wild Life (pictured above) expresses the typical bright pastel and neon colors found throughout Dorota’s body of work. The painting shifts out of place as the cool blues and greens are arranged in a fashion to pull us back while the bright yellow are strategically placed to push us forward from the center. A delicious painting which exemplifies vibrancy and nuance.
Dorota Łapa-Maik creates intimate postmodern landscapes of the mind which explore the deeper inner workings of the purpose of abstraction. These carefully formed yet expressive works communicate compositions which both invade a space and evocatively invites the viewer towards the inner realm of the paintings. The near recognizable and unfamiliar forms create mysterious connotations of image identification and the psychological impulses of the mind. Provocative and thoughtful, Dorota’s paintings stand on their own testament free of association with other artists, carved with her own brush. Through dynamic push and pull and an insight for color harmony, Dorota can be defined as a gifted painter who challenges boundaries regarding motivations of contemporary painting.
