ABOUT EXHIBITION

Immersed in surrealistic aesthetics, magical realism and neo-pop, Julia Curyło's works bring together the search carried out by rationalists and the believers of divine creationism on the origin of the world. The starting point for reading the series of “cosmic” paintings of the artist is her interest in the current issues popular around the world, such as space exploration and the romantic ethos that has been created around it for the past decades. This special sort of romanticism has been present in both the significance and visual layer. It is an introduction to new interpretations at the interface of contradictory theories as well as the continuous need for primal spirituality, despite technology development and civilization achievements in science.

Julia Curyło's earlier series of paintings was already a manifestation of the same interests and it was dedicated to the perception of contemporary science in the context of belief in creationism. Entitled "LHC" (Large Hadron Collider), the series refers to the large-scale experiment conducted by the CERN, which attempted to proof or exclude the existence of the tiniest element (H0), which is perceived by scientist as the source of rational explanation behind the creation of all matter. Curyło tells her fantastic story about alternative cosmogony around the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a device that helped to extract the so-called "divine element." The visions of the world in which the key hero is the accelerator that becomes a god, refer to the traditional Christian iconography combined with realistically presented elements of the machine. A similar thing happens to the new series of works depicting contemporary saints, apostles, spiritual leaders and heroes who are the space explorers. Superheroes of the pop culture, triumphing in movies, such as “The Martian,” “Armageddon,” “Gravity,” “Interstellar,” “Alien.” Exceptionally smart, with great bodies, the holders of the secret knowledge who safeguard Earth drift in space. Looking at the life from a human and divine perspective, they stand on the verge of two worlds. They symbolize technological progress and dreams about journeys into the unknown in search for both alien civilizations and the absolute.

            
Curyło is interested in the line between the quantum and classical physics, the science and the metaphysics. She explores mutual impacts and how they permeate the mass culture and individual imagination as well as collective impressions on the origin of the world. Some look for the answer in the language of physics, numbers, and formulas, some draw from belief in the existence of super beings. In both cases, the search for the "divine" language that could explain everything that is still uncertain continues and hovers in the realm of speculations. Space has also inspired Curyło in terms of pure aesthetic forms - dark backgrounds are just like blackboards, ready to write formulas on them, whereas astronauts’ suits are just like balloons-toys. Realistic fragments refer to “our,” well-known, researched and comprehensible reality; space explorers are suspended between it and the mystery.

Julia Curyło was born in Warsaw. She studied at Warsaw’s Academy of Fine Arts, where she obtained her degree in the painting studio of Professor Leon Tarasewicz and the public space art studio supervised by Professor Mirosław Duchowski in 2009. She is the author of paintings and installations in public spaces. 

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