Simplified Ladies 

Curator: This acrylic-on-canvas work is entitled "Simplified Ladies," by Iwo Zaniewski. There is no specific date associated with it, but we know the artist has been producing work throughout the twenty-first century. Editor: Well, first impression? It feels like a memory fading… or maybe a dream I can’t quite grasp. These figures are more felt than seen, like echoes. Curator: That’s a keen observation. Zaniewski’s work often grapples with memory and identity. You see the distinct colors but their placement in such geometric space really challenges how we see traditional portraiture. Consider also how geometric abstraction evolved through the rise of social change in art movements. Editor: The way the artist flattens the space… it’s like they’re stripping away layers of artifice, trying to get to some primal, essential form of femininity. It’s bold, the colors shouldn’t work but they do, like an argument settled just before it's screamed out loud. I find that exhilarating. Curator: Indeed, that flattening contributes to a modern interpretation of women. It speaks volumes about societal expectations imposed and resisted. Zaniewski uses familiar themes of portraiture but through an abstracted vocabulary makes you think how identity is truly performed. Editor: I wonder who these ladies are? Or what they mean in the artist's eyes. Not rendered perfectly, perhaps just vague concepts instead? They could be long-lost loves, figments, ancestors… there's no definitive answer. That shadowy lady feels especially potent. It has something sad, lost, even regretful about it. Curator: These portrayals resonate beyond individual likeness. The geometric shapes against the backdrop of expressionist influences suggests perhaps the human experience in modern, commercial culture, or maybe about historical invisibility. How the structures around us impose rules on expression. Editor: Ultimately, it is Zaniewski's personal story made public on canvas. As for those enigmatic women? It makes me want to create art—a little more imperfect and real and a little less...defined. Thanks for sharing the stage with Zaniewski to open that creative possibility. Curator: And thank you for illuminating the more emotional and intuitive layers. Art has always served as an invitation for further public conversations, dialogues just like ours to better understand art and its cultural significance.