Background Information

Simone Stawicki was born in Bussum, the Netherlands in 1966. She is of Polish origin. She grew up with art because her grandfather was the painter, A.L. van Galen. So art took a central place in her life.

She started drawing and painting at an early age. At secondary school she passed an exam in the subject ‘Art History and Drawing’. After leaving school she went to the Academy of Arts “Artibus” in the city of Utrecht, where she majored in the subject Monumental Art. Although she learned a lot at the academy of Art, to her it felt rather limited. That is why you can say that actual development came after finishing the Academy, because from that point on she was able to work according to her own views.

Her work went through a particularly special development after she became a Christian. From this moment on, she has felt more fascinated by life itself and has started to appreciate the small things in life. She started thinking about God, man and society and she came to the conclusion that art is vision. Art tries to express something or wants to put something across. Painting in a realistic way is craft without depth. Giving your own interpretation to a subject shows what you think and feel. Like an angry person who vigorously crosses out something that isn’t right. It tells you that he is angry. There are no words, but the communication is through the crossing out. This is an example of abstract language.

Art is a language. It speaks from one heart to the other without using words, but the work is a means of communication. To achieve this, Simone Stawicki searches for the essence of the language, the abstract language. By leaving out things and intensifying other things in a painting she tries to speak this language.In the first period of her work, image was central; unity between model (still life) and the space that surrounds it. Image is created by object, space and time. An object is influenced by its surroundings while at the same time the object will influence the space surrounding it. That is why object, space and time are one. When you place an object somewhere, it can either feel right or be totally out of place. This tells us that an object influences its surroundings (space). The other way around, surroundings influence the object. An old vase may be beautiful placed on a rubbish dump, while it will be ugly when placed in a shop. Everything is a product of its time. At one moment in time, a still life can be a perfect picture, whereas an hour later the image has lost its intensity. Everything is relative, especially an image.

In the following period she wished to translate emotions by using an abstract picture language. She investigated which colours, shapes and lines in association with each other were able to translate emotion to the viewer.

Now she is doing research for contradictions and harmony. She wants to give more expression to her views. Furthermore she, as an artist, still draws attention to society, culture, and life. The things she absorbs as a sponge, she will squeeze out in her work. She wants to let people feel and think about things. Not everything is always black and white. Everything has colours and nuances. An artist is constantly growing. It is a study that will go on and on. Each painting should be seen as a development toward more depth, more emotion; a study toward a language.

The works of Simone Stawicki are colourful, but she also uses black and white. She paints big colour panels and also lines. Contradiction creates harmony. Each painting is a form of communication. The way it is painted is the penmanship. The artist speaks and it is up to the viewer to understand.