Exhibition preview: Join the Dance

This excellent show is a joint enterprise between the Mrozowska family – Monika, Alicja and Hubert at The Hive on Church Street. I toddled down for a peek at this excellent work on the 2nd March 2023. The exhibition is built around a quote from self-titled ‘philosophical entertainer’, Alan Watts: “The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance”.

It was indeed time well spent to view this excellent work. As usual I am left jealous of this artistic virtuosity. Just the compositions would be beyond me. A viewer commented on the 3D effect around David Bowie’s hands; I confessed I can barely draw hands at all.

The exhibition brings together paintings and drawings on canvas, paper and silk. I don’t recall seeing paintings on silk before and I am impressed. These works are large-scale with bold colours and all done with excellent technique together with requisite vision and creativity. A handy flyer described the work as “a translation of life events, places and thoughts that shape us”. I wish my little life gave me inspiration like this.

Monika runs the Jaguar Skin Tattoo parlour here in Blackpool. She studied art at the Academy of Fine Arts and graduated from the University of Warsaw with a fine arts degree. She works mainly in oils, also silk painting and graphic ink drawing. Monika has exhibited in Sweden, Poland and the UK. I ask what got her into art and where her inspiration comes from:

“That’s a very good question. I started when I realised I could hold a pencil, it wasn’t a matter of choice, it was just the way it was. I generally use oils and don’t like acrylics, I don’t think they’re me. Also there is joy in oils and silk.

“Painting on silk, sometimes I use a background image as my own sketch; a few lines on which I build proportions and an outline. Something must block the spread of the colours. The pigments used on silk can be exposed to broad sunlight for a long time and nothing will happen. There is the option to make clothes, which is very rewarding. The title of this exhibition is Join the Dance, because it’s about the changing forms of the nature of life, which we try and capture in our art.”

Thanks to Monika for giving us this insight into her vision and techniques. Now I want to try painting on silk.

Moving on to her children and painting partners, Alicja’s practice explores identity and the concept of home through her painting, photography and technology, incorporating her own lived experience. She has participated in artists’ residencies and creative workshops in the UK, Poland and Germany. Much success has followed. In May she runs a new workshop, Experimental Oils. Information is available from ioutheatre.org

Lastly but by no means least, Hubert is also a Blackpool-based artist, specialising in oil painting, sound art, music and video. He graduated from the University of Central Lancashire with a BA in Fine Art.

This is brilliant work, really striking. I’d love a piece on our walls, but even the Long Gallery would have difficulty accommodating the bigger of these pieces, although as you can see, much smaller ones are available. Get to The Hive early for your breakfast and take the opportunity to view these paintings. Also, I don’t want to cause a stampede, but they have got tomatoes in there.

Thanks to The Hive for the excellent tea and carrot cake, just the snack I needed. The show is at The Hive, Church Street, Blackpool until 11th April 2023.