With her small-size „baby glass paintings“, Maria Marachowska has created a singular form of artistic expression whose special, translucent materiality in conjunction with an intriguing diversity of different motifs atypical for this art medium can properly be described as a unique distinguishing feature. The particular magic inherent in this material is evocative of the ancient „Maestri Vetrai“ - the master glassmakers - of the Venetian island of Murano who equated the creation of their glass artworks with alchemical processes and practiced it in the manner of a secret science. In some of her works this impression is still enhanced by mysteriously phosphorescent color effects making particular motif parts glow polar green in the dark while others are accentuated by shadowy effects like in glass negatives from the early days of photography.

The artist creates her glass paintings in three individual working phases spread over three days: the first step is to apply sketch-like outlines to the acrylic glass sheet frequently hand-cut by herself, after drying the outlines are filled with the intended colors and after another drying phase the painting is refined and perfected. Each painting is a unique specimen, even in subject-oriented series none resembles the other. She thereby allows her imagination to run free and she amazes the viewer by her ability for telling a whole story full of depth and attention to detail within minimum space. Her topics are simultaneously modern and characterized by art-history, ranging from flora and fauna motifs, over mythology, literature and music to references from art and architecture. The portraits and character studies are thereby of particular significance, in spite of their unmistakably individual style, their authenticity and expressiveness makes us think of Toulouse-Lautrec, Aubrey Beardsley or Ralph Steadman. Images full of erotic tension alternate with bleak and macabre visions in the spirit of Edgar Allan Poe or Francisco de Goya, just to create subtly humorous, fabulous creatures and poetic, tender views of nature in the next moment.

There are to be found Dadaist elements as well as reminiscences of Art Brut, symbolism and Art Noveau in Maria Marachowska's glass paintings, just to assume a unique and inimitable form through their highly individual interpretation and approach. As confirmed by her already gained, international collector's community, both the richness of motifs and the always new and unexpected selection of topics encourage costumers to collect and evokes a feeling of happiness in viewers, whereby the unique price-performance ratio consciously allows also art lovers with a limited budget to make repetitive purchases. There are also no limits with regard to the presentation forms: the paintings can be applied to transparent surfaces (like windows, glass doors, etc.), but they can also be framed, set up by means of picture stands or miniature easels, secured to the wall with screws or combined in type or display cases. Depending on how the light falls, the impact varies and illusionistic effects in the manner of laterna magica projections or the colored shadows in traditional Indonesian shadow puppet theatre emerge in the picture background.

Text: Iris Weirich

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