CZEŚĆ, PANI CIARSKA

Cześć, Pani Ciarska is the first London solo exhibition by young Polish artist Paola Ciarska.

Cześć, Pani Ciarska chronicles a series of homes of friends, relatives and professional contacts in Newcastle and Gateshead where she lives and works. Among them are the homes of Annabella Marczewska, a DJ, go-go dancer and member of punk transgressors Woman in Revolt; her partner’s parents, retired police officers Pat and Jim Mccoy; Rashida Davison, the Director of Globe Gallery; Kuba Ryniewicz, a photographer and director of the artist bookshop NewBridge Books; as well as Paola’s own home. These all-new paintings illustrate collections of domestic items, art and technology and how they might make up a life, however the occupants themselves are absent, instead their homes are occupied by naked women streaming images to contacts on the outside world.

Paola’s work describes the connections between the artist’s identity, digital communication and social media, and the things we surround ourselves with that make us feel at home. They present a rich political narrative connecting the independence and isolation of place and home within a technologically connected world. Previously Paola has explored both fictional and real lives of others using, as an anchor, a complex history of female representation, shrewdly referencing specific artworks (Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring, Dora Maar’s portrait of Picasso, a poster of Banksy’s Balloon Girl) or cartoon characters (Minnie Mouse, the Powerpuff Girls) alongside the paraphernalia of BDSM, camgirls and lifecasters.

Paola graduated from Newcastle University in 2016. Recent exhibitions include: ‘Coming Along Nicely’, solo exhibitions at #GlobeGallery and #Gallagher&Turner, Newcastle (2017); ‘Worried Mother’, curated by #MILK at #WorkplaceGallery, Gateshead (2016); ‘Feeling Safer’, curated by #MarkJackson at #BrooklynFireproof, New York (2016); ‘Curious? Festival’, Bamburgh House (2016); and ‘BRINK’, #Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, (2012).

Paola lives and works in Newcastle and has work in the Hatton Gallery collection.