A key element in understanding the paintings of Ewa is her occasional use of wrapping-paper. As she puts it, this material “allows [her] access to many different patterns and figures within the folds.” Often painting (at least in a preliminary way) with her eyes closed, the crux of Ewa’s work is the portrayal of human and animal bodies: or, more specifically, the mood of different states of embodiment. With an oeuvre whose modes range from portraits, to landscapes, to forays into minimalist repetition and exploded abstraction, Ewa resolves her paintings in terms of a certain, unmistakable mood—so easy to spot yet difficult to articulate in non-visual means.
Ewa’s acrylic on canvas piece Bruno is an example of her portraiture. Aspiring to a mode of representation where a single line could in fact serve as a metonym for someone’s face or personality, the quick-drying nature of acrylic seems to have lent itself to some quick decision on the artist’s part. The portrait that has emerged from her efforts is distinguished by the visible economy of brushstrokes used to render it.
