ON THE BORDER, 2013-2014


What is a photograph? For me, a fragment of quick-silver, a lucid dream, a scribbled note from the subconscious to be deciphered, perhaps, over years. It is a monologue trying to become a conversation, an offering, an alibi, a salute.
                                                                                            Eva Rubinstein



Photobook (excerpts)
Silver Gelatin Prints

On The Border

In Memory Of My Feelings
SOUND/ART INSTALLATION, 2021

In Memory Of My Feelings 
Archaeoacoustics or examining sound in the past



First part of a sound/art project realized during my art residency in Squillace, Calabria, Italy. In my works (sound and drawings), I investigate themes like the translation of archeology and subjective experiences into general history. I examine how the idea of archaeoacoustics is understood and narrated.

13 drawings created in response to:

A piece made by blending my vocals (12 voices) in the interpretation of a fragment of a medieval piece by Hildegard von Bingen "O virga ac diadema" (Praise for the Mother). 

as well as

the soundscapes
fragments of information
archaeology of sounds
the ruins
visible and clandestine 
feelings and emotions
natural phenomena 
my stories

https://soundcloud.com/martyna-benedyka/o-virga-ac-diadema-hildegard-von-bingen-martyna-benedyka

https://martynabenedyka.com/In-Memory-Of-My-Feelings

"Can you tell us a bit about your sound/art project “In Memory of My Feelings”?

Martyna Benedyka: It is the first part of a project developed between July and August 2021 in Squillace, a wee ancient town in the region of Calabria, Italy. I was one of the winners of the In-ruins Art Residency and was invited to create and show my work in the ruins of the Squillace Castle which was built by the Normans in 1044. It was my sound/art installation debut. Works on paper (charcoal, ink, pastel, graphite) as “feelings” in one room corresponded with a piece of music coming from another room. The sound, created by blending my vocals (12 voices) in a canon, was an interpretation of a fragment of a medieval piece by Hildegard von Bingen O Virga Ac Diadema (Praise for the Mother). I focused on investigating the themes of landscape of the past and translation of subjective experiences into general history.
By examining and recording historical sounds, I wanted to explore “new” soundscapes around me and study the acoustics at archaeological sites."

Excerpt from the Artist Interview, The Bagel Hole, September 2021

In Memory Of My Feelings

Part of the Kintsugi Photo Project, 2021

Soundscape 21, 22, 23, 24

Seascapes Soundscapes

KINTSUGI, 2O21

Photobook (excerpts)

Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage.
After my recent surgeries, I thought of the concept of kintsugi as a perfect technique to mend my body and soul. This work allowed me to accept my “precious” scars which I was left with and treat each of them as a unique break that soon would be filled.
The images correspond with each other in a similar way to our body and being. It is a never-ending conversation: light – dark, day – night, shapes, lines, dots and spots, deep breaths, in and out, like the curtain and the wind.
 
Eine ganz andere Bedeutung
The Three Graces (Youth/Beauty, Mirth, and Elegance)
Gravitation
Nike of Samothrace
Atem
Kintsugi
Der älteste Planet
The Burghers of Calais
Die Mitarbeit / Cooperation
Der Stuhl

Contemporary Identities - Solo Show 2021
https://www.contemporaryidentities.com/resources/Kintsugi-Martyna%20Benedyka-Contemporaryidentities.pdf

Kintsugi - Solo Show

A Series of Collages inspired by the City on the Caspian Sea, Oil Rocks, Baku, 2012-2021

Things Look Black, My Poor Friend

White Minutes from A to/from B, a year-long silent conversation and two person exhibition, UK, 2015

White Minutes is about our lives. We live in space. Behind the curtain. We are scared of what is to come – the unknown.
We live day after day, keep changing over the years, but remain essentially the same person. We want courage in this feeling of solitude and quiet – that is what I am trying to capture.
White Minutes is the time we spend alone. It has the feel of solitary freedom to me. 

https://www.flipsnack.com/martynabenedyka/white-minutes-martyna-benedyka.html

Silver Gelatin Print
Oil on Wood
Paper Collage 
- selected works

Photography:

White Minutes
Morsel by Morsel (Bread)
Untitled

Painting:

Hand I
Hand II
Pianist
Washing Hair

Collage:

Sketchbook Collages (excerpts)
The Eye And Hand Of The Painter


White Minutes

Paintings Of Women, 2021

The series examines the portrayal of women throughout different eras and styles. Focusing at a specific moment in time, I search for new ways to paint the human figure without the urgency of explanation.


PAINTINGS

Do You Remember When... (Conversation I)
Why The World Looks The Way It Does (Conversation II)
Before The Mirror
Will You Wait For Me
Woman In White
Splits (Triptych)
Waiting For Return
The Artist
Caryatid

Paintings Of Women

Potter's Wheel
Best Intentions
Man With A Camera
Table With Cheese
Concert
Mother Sleeping
Palm Trees
Potter's Wheel II
Paper Knife
Men Carrying Mattresses

For years, I have been fascinated by the process of doing things with hands. I have focused on capturing hands creating or simply doing something, and I have seen people dedicating themselves to their work in different cultures and countries. Hands today are a symbol of beauty — not so long ago, they were often the subject of hard work or exploitation. Hands can be seen as a symbol of beauty while also being a symbol of hard work and exploitation, and my paintings research this paradox.

Oil on Wood, 2014

Open Your Eyes

Gardens always mean something else,
man absolutely uses one thing to say another.   

R.Harbison




Garden Sculptures, 2014-2017

Paper Collage
Garden Sculptures

Oil on Wood
Two Sisters
Closed Form (A Sleeping Stone)
Primitive Plant
Triptych (Apron, Camera Boxes, Garden)
Sculpture
Black Veil


Garden Sculptures

Rest Here, 2020

Silver Gelatin Prints
Oil on Canvas
Graphite on Paper


Rhythm

I cannot think of anything more exciting than art made out of the ordinary. Paying attention to the overlooked obvious. The beauty of everyday. The appearance of things. The surface of things. Seeing things as we are. All those places we feel that are boundless. Patterns in time. Our routines which define the rhythm of our lives. Each painting contains the memory of the past. A split between the physical thing and the idea of a thing. Unusual harmonies. A series of small things brought together, not by impulse but careful consideration.

Existence

Existentialism brings me back to the here and now. I have always been interested in this idea of where you are at the exact time and place, which is not like any other time and place. The immediate present and its meaning. How I can paint the same things differently, depending on my relationship to my own necessities. Focusing on the process per se. The viewer is the subject. One cannot be indifferent to the beauty of the obvious. Sometimes while painting it is as though you wish to be nowhere. One is glad to be in a place that lacks sharp edges.

Stasis

Trees epitomize stasis. A standing still. Dwelling on the beauty. Not accidental but intentional. Not only feeling it, but expressing it. How to express the true inner relationships between figures and objects. The art of between. The art of being neither art not nature, but both. Fragments that cut into our thoughts. The exactitude of the mark.

Time

After some time the vision changes. Something that metamorphoses into other forms. With each experience, new forms appear. They go on in circles. The eyes become attuned to seeing minute variations. How fast the time passes when you rest your eyes on someone or something. Between simplicity and complexity. How I can paint the same thing differently. The balance between delight and labour. One thing can lead to another endlessly, depending on when you stop. Always unfinished. Resting – in time and space.


List of Considerations, Rest Here, 2020


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Martyna Benedyka