Bio
Dorota Łapa-Maik is a Polish contemporary artist based in Krakow. She creates expressive images using mainly the language of spontaneous abstraction and musical improvisation. She is interested in a holistic approach to man and world, in working with both the body and the subconscious content as well as in free expression.
She graduated from the Jagiellonian University at the Faculty of Spanish Philology and attended daily studies at the Academy of Photography in Cracow. She studied painting in the studio of Dr. Tomasz Wełna in Cracow, in 2012-2016. She was a co-founder of the photography collective led by Zbigniew Pozarzycki, in which she exhibited her works. She was also a participant in the Creative Visionary Program (2021-2022) led by Californian artist Nicholas Wilton.
Individual exhibitions:
2023 'Painting the Soul’, curator Patrycja Ignaczak, Artshow, Warsaw
2023 ‘New Day’, Apteka Sztuki Gallery, Warsaw
2020 ‘Connections, Flows, Relations’, Galeria u Jezuitów, Poznań
2019 ‘Faraway Inner Journeys’ as part of the Main Program of Cracow Art Week KRAKERS, Tytano Foundation, Krakow
Chosen collective exhibitions:
2022/2023 ‘Art inSpire Vol. 8’, curator Agata Sztyber-Sławek, Przechodnia Gallery, Warsaw Spire, Warsaw
2022 ‘I am an Artist’, curator Monika Wanyura-Kurosad, Krakowski Magazyn Sztuki Hergon ArtBay, Krakow
2021/2022 ‘Monumental’, curator Sergio Gómez, www.sergiogomezcurates.net
2021 ‘Minimalism and Expression’, Vinci Art Gallery, Poznań
2020 ‘Waiting for the Wind - Artists against Smog’, CSW Solvay, Krakow
Artist Statement
I love movement and improvisation. I am interested in the impulse coming out of the body, the shape suddenly appearing upon my eyelids. I create images trying to hear their internal music. My aspiration is the synergy of shapes, sounds, colours and movement. Free expression opens space for emotions. I am intrigued by subconscious content: hidden desires, internal complaints, causes of pain. I study the messages that come through emotions. I am passionate about memory, its inheritance and how it reappears in next generations. I am guided by a holistic approach to man and the world. Relationships with close people are crucial to me. I love to dance and ride a bicycle. I celebrate every moment of silence amid the noise of our civilization. I started creating art after many years of searching. I really appreciate time spent in my studio.
Dorota Łapa-Maik