Icon 2013

Małgorzata Serwatka made this 80 x 60 cm painting, “Icon,” and it feels like a window into a very particular world, her world. I can imagine her in the studio, layering thin washes of paint to create this almost ghostly figure, crowned with a textured halo that shimmers. I wonder what she was thinking as she rendered the little teddy bear pattern on the figure’s shirt. It's such a curious mix of the sacred and the everyday, isn't it? There’s something about the gray cat with those electric green eyes that suggests both comfort and a bit of a dare. I’m reminded of other painters who mix figuration with pattern, like Pierre Bonnard, but Serwatka has her own distinct voice. It makes me think about the ongoing conversation between artists across time, each of us riffing off what came before. It's a reminder that painting is an embodied form of expression that embraces ambiguity.