Agnes Grochulska Interview

ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: Please tell us a bit about yourself and your artwork?

My name is Agnes Grochulska and I am an artist working in oil and acrylic paint and drawing media. I work across a variety of subject matter, including portraits, figures, and landscapes, with the underlying themes centering around the interconnectedness of all things. I grew up and studied art in Warsaw, Poland, and live and work in Richmond Virginia.  My recent shows include “Archetypes” - a solo exhibition at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, and a solo show “The Outline“ at Pulpo Gallery in Germany.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: How has your background shaped your artistic practice?

I left Europe in my early twenties and together with my young family we lived in a few different countries and places since. I think the transient character of my life and the experience of observing things as somewhat of an outsider shaped my artistic practice in certain ways. I’m using art as a metaphor for my ideas, a sort of translation, a way to connect and express in other ways than words. I am interested in the multi layered reality of a transient life situation and how we adapt to it and/or struggle to conform to the newfound circumstances.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: How has your creative process changed over the years?

I think with time I am trying to incorporate more of what’s going on in my life in my work. Both, my personal thoughts, and ideas that catch my interest and the events that are happening in the world around me. I used to base my work mostly on direct observation and it is much more rooted in imagination and experimentation now.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: How has your artwork evolved since you first started making art?

Lately, I have been interested in exploring the idea that art, by existing in both the artist's and in the viewer’s worlds, mediates between the “I” and the “other”. The artist, from their individuality creates artwork that acts directly on the viewer, who according to their perception will experience the ideas in a way unique to them - and in this way complete the process - making the viewers a part of the creation.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: What inspired you to become an artist?

We each see things in metaphor, and it is interesting to examine how objective or subjective the metaphors really are. I think that I always viewed art as a way to express myself and connect with others.  A way to interpret the word around me and find out how others see it.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: How do you select your themes?
I like to work in series. The themes for my series come from ideas that occupy my mind at the moment and are usually connected in some way to what’s going on around me. I feel working in series allows me to explore an idea in many ways, touch deeper in the subjects that I find interesting.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: Can you tell us a bit about a few specific pieces you have created that you are particularly proud of?

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“Lia” Is a painting from my “Line and Colour. Paintings of People” series that was awarded the People’s Choice Award at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art New Waves 2020 exhibition, I like how the tensions between the bold form and the apparent intimacy of emotion - where calligraphic lines, together with impasto textures and vivid colours - suggest underlying energy and feeling and compose an insightful psychological image of the subject. Another painting from that series that I like for those reasons is “Joey”. I like how much the paintings suggest with so few elements used. I often think of painting as a form of visual poetry, and I think these are close to this concept.

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I also really like the spirited painting “Lee” - a portrait of Lee Krasner from a series of portraits of female artists that I find most influential and inspiring. I think it captures my idea of the character , the essence of the person. You can see and feel a personality in this portrait. The title “Lady Painters” is borrowed from the tongue-in-cheek name Joan Mitchell called herself when talking about her art in an interview: “Not bad for a lady painter”

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS:  What has been the most rewarding part of your career as a studio artist?

Being able to spend my time creating and connecting with people through art, being in the studio every day. I love the freedom of the time and space that is designed solely for my art. And I like being in the lively, historic neighborhood of Richmond that my studio is located in.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: Tell me about your latest body of work.

The “Reflections” series is about the distorted and fragmented images reflected in the water - that symbolize the complex and ever-changing nature of our own lives, and the way that we are constantly adapting to new situations and perspectives. At the same time, “Reflections” are also about reflecting on our own lives, considering our actions and experiences in light of who we are and who we want to be. The paintings are an exploration of the idea of fluidity, that we are always in a state of flux, constantly being shaped by the world around us and our own internal reflections

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: Do you have any upcoming exhibitions or projects that you are excited about?

I am currently working on an exciting public commission project and will be happy to share the details when it is ready.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS:  What do you think is the most important aspect of creating successful artwork?

Experimentation. Taking chances in your practice. I like it when there is risk involved in creating an artwork . I find that my most successful paintings are the ones you can see the risk in, and you can see it resolved in a satisfying way. That also involves allowing the painting process to take its own course. I start a painting with certain hopes for how it is going to look but it often develops into a new concept along the way. And that’s the beautiful (and terrifying) thing about art making.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS:  Describe your process of creating a new artwork from concept to completion.

The process depends on the painting, but I often start with loose, gestural studies for the initial

composition. Sometimes I will start directly on canvas, other times I’ll make a couple of drawing studies on paper first, then translate the most successful one into a painting . By starting the design by drawing quickly I am relying on my instinct in putting the lines in a gestural way, and I’m hoping it will hold the initial impulse and grasp the most significant information.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: What is your favorite medium to work with? Please tell us a bit about how the medium influences or supports the ideas behind your work. 

Drawing is the form of art that I am most comfortable with. And when I say drawing - I’m thinking about drawing as a dry drawing medium and a way of mark making, a technique that can be used with paint. It’s sort of a way of thinking and then realizing the artwork - by putting quick gestures in pencil, ink or oil paint that helps me focus on the process rather than the finished result. A gestural approach to drawing has a lot to do with emotions and allows me to work more instinctively.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: Are there any techniques you have developed that you use consistently in your artwork?

The dominant features of my paintings are texture and line. I often use heavy impasto brushstrokes and expressive, gestural lines in my work. I’m interested in creating a push and pull between the dimensional paint texture and the loose, gestural areas and hope that this results in a dynamic and interesting painting.

I think that the visible brush strokes, vivid colours and gestural character of her paintings offer their viewer an insight to the painting process itself, and that the paintings express time spent looking and creating, an interest and a feeling for an irreplaceable time spent on creating

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: What has been the most memorable artwork you have created? What makes this piece memorable?

I’m always the most excited about the artwork I’m working on at the moment. That is, until I start a new one...

This self-portrait is “wet-paint fresh”. It’s about the creative process. The “making of” the Reflections series. I’m wearing my painting clothes, sitting on the floor of my studio with my last painting hanging (sideways) on the wall to dry. You can see elements of the “Sunlit'' painting in the background. The face and the centre of the composition is painted with heavy impasto, then the brushstrokes become more loose and colours dissolve into the edges, where you can see some pencil marks as well.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS:  What was the most challenging piece you have ever created? How much do you think the effort you put into creating a work is important vs the idea behind it?

“Archetypes” solo show at Virginia MOCA. This collection is vaguely inspired by Carl Gustav Jung’s 12 archetypes that make up different ways of being and exist as cultural symbols and images present in the collective unconscious.  The titles of the paintings correspond to the twelve typecasts proposed by Jung, but are not featured next to the images as to not suggest my own perception and interpretation of the archetypes. The portraits can also apply to more than one archetype. I was interested to see how each of the paintings will portray a different character to different people than they might to me. The idea behind it was an interesting concept and involved a lot of introspection on my part and required some psychological work and artistic exploration to translate the Jungian theories and interpretations into paintings.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS:  Are there any particular techniques or materials you would like to learn how to use in the future?

I would love to widen my practice and try my hand at sculpture, installation, and printmaking techniques. I think my interest in quality of line would translate well into print.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: What themes or topics are you exploring in your current artwork?

I continue to work on the Reflections series. I'd like to play some more with the abstracted and symbolic character of the water reflections and develop the narrative further.  I’m pushing forward the idea of painting as a broad and open ended metaphor. In the end, we see paintings not only as they are but as we are.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: Are there any particular projects or themes you would like to explore in the future?

Interconnectedness. I would like to explore the idea of how everything and everyone is intertwined with one another.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: What do you think is the most important skill a studio artist should have?

Perseverance, curiosity , and willingness to place trust in the process.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: What do you think has been the biggest challenge in your creative career?

There are certainly numerous challenges of the everyday practicalities of studio life. Achieving balance between all of them would be a great thing. Another way to think about it would be the challenges that I set for myself: like trying to create an artwork with a strong sense of “presence”. Art that has the strength to confront the viewer with the unknown, and inspire them to discover the internal logic and beauty of the work on their own.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: What advice would you give to aspiring studio artists?

Persevere. Be patient. Good art needs time. Work hard and do the best you can, but learn to go with the flow and trust the process.