Robert Motelski was born in 1977 in Warsaw. In 1997 he graduated from The Secondery Arts School in Warsaw. In 2002 he graduated from the painting department of The European Academy of Arts with the excellent grade. His diploma superviser is prof. Barbara Szubińska. Previously he had studied in the studios of Antoni Fałat, Andrzej Sadowski and Ewa Pełka. He has had sixteen individual exhibitions and participated in over sixty collective ones. He received The scholarship of the Ministry of Culture in 2004.
In 2008 he received “Mloda Polska” scholarship of the National Culture Center. His works are in private collections in Austria, Belgium, England, Holland, Switzerland Sweden and USA. His artistic interests focus on the study of a landscape and an innovative way of its presentation. |
Selected exhibitions:
Individual: 2014 – Galeria Sandhofer, Salzburg, Austria |
2012 - |
Wegert and Sadocco Gallery, Winkel, Holand |
2011 - |
Olympia Gallery, Cracow, Poland |
2011 - |
Fabryka Koronek Gallery, Warsaw, Poland |
2010 - |
Sandhofer Gallery, Innsbruck, Austria |
2010 - |
Sandhofer Gallery, Congress Centre, Alpbach, Austria |
2010 - |
Ślad Gallery, Ełk, Poland |
2009 - |
Milano Gallery, Warsaw, Poland |
2004 - |
TEST Gallery, Warsaw, Poland |
2004 - |
ZPAP Gallery, Gdansk, Poland |
2002 - |
Brama Gallery, Warsaw, Poland |
Group: |
2012 - |
The Garden of Life, The Life Gallery, Amsterdam, Holand |
2012 - |
XXIV Contemporary Polish Painting Festival “Obrazowanie”,
Książąt Pomorskich Castle, Szczecin, Poland |
2012 - |
One Day at The See, Sandhofer Gallery, Innsbruck, Austria |
2010 - |
AAF, Vernissage, London, England |
2010 - |
Art Innsbruck, Sandhofer Gallery, Innsbruck, Austria |
2009 - |
B. Leśmian Biennale, Muzeum, Zamość, Poland |
2009 - |
Art Innsbruck, Sandhofer Gallery, Innsbruck, Austria |
2006 - |
Focus, Design Centre, Vernissage, London, England |
2004 - |
Young Polish Art Into Europe, Vernissage, London, England |
2003 - |
“Promocje 2002″, City Gallery of Art, Legnica, Poland |
2003 - |
Second International Competition of Drawings, Museum, Wroclaw, Poland |
2003 - |
“Master and Student” – exhibition of works of The Professors and Graduates of The European Academy of Arts, Ars Polona Gallery, Warsaw, Poland |
2002 - |
Art & Business – The Best Painting 2001,
Królikarnia Palace – department of The National Museum, Warsaw, Poland |
Robert Motelski graduated from the European Academy of Arts.
This young artist has won admiration among the tutors, colleagues and fans of his artistic outcome, and that is not just because he belongs to the group of the most talented students of our school. Aware of its heritage, Robert remains independent and aims at creative representation of undiscovered aspects of nature. He creates an ascetic work which is looking for the right balance of light and shadow. In this way he achieves the richness and strength of artistic expression, in spite of the limited monochromatic colour scale. Robert’s paintings introduce the viewer into the climate of intellectual meditation and they become familiar and treasured objects. Robert has already established the frames of his interests and the priorities in both artistic and studio work. His creative endeavours relate to the interpretation of landscape which does not rule out the tradition of world’s painting. In the midst of freedom of XXI century at the ‘art market’, Robert’s paintings boldly remind that renouncement of aggression and professional merits are also essential for the balance of spirit and the world. Professor. Barbara Szubińska |
Since the beginning of his studies under my guidance, I have been following the development
of Robert Motelskis painting with immense satisfaction. His consistent artistic progress, independent of any short-lasting trends, has been already noticed and appreciated. This is reflected in the number of his individual and collective exhibitions and their critical acclaim. Motelskis paintings show the deep respect for art tradition and, simultaneously, the belief in a well-thought-out creation of individual artistic values. The idea of painting originating in the contemplation of nature as well as individual and instinctive transformation, leads to the creation of universal structure and describes the world in opposition to the mass-medial reality. I am convinced of the high value of Robert Motelski’s current artistic oeuvre. Professor. Ewa Pełka |
Robert Motelski is a very young artist actively looking for his own creative path. His recent numerous exhibitions show not only a talented but also hard-working artist, which results in the following series of his paintings.
His works are fragments of reality transformed by the artist into almost abstract compositions, where light and selected colour give the subtle geometrical rhythm and introduce the mood of concentration and contemplation |
Grażyna Ruszczyc
Test Gallery
Robert Motelski Robert Motelski’s paintings are exceptional visions of nature, visions of space which surrounds us. They tell about being, fate and passing. They depend on the season of year, the time
of day, the temperature of air, the intensity of light. They record everything which is unusual and unique. Their realm is created out of fragments of the sky, trunks and branches of trees, thickets of bushes, blades and tufts of grass, rushes, hosts of flowers, glittering surfaces of lakes and ponds. The young artists builds that upon the basic elements of artistic technique: colour and light. It is particularly light which plays a vital and essential part in constructing the mood of his synthetic, rhythmical landscapes. It defines the space, air, movement; evokes the feelings of changeability and flickering. By limiting the pieces of landscape to a sign,-,a clear symbol, Robert Motelski accurately reflects the essence of the complicated and delicate matter of nature and its core. He presents us with the values and poesy of the world which we fail to notice but experience all the time. He convinces us that, apart from conflicts, tension and violence, there exists the beautiful world, unchangeable in its everlasting rhythm of birth and death- the world of nature captivating by its complete peacefulness and balance, harmony and order. Recalling the tradition of Polish painting of colour and light, the artist created an extremely accurate, impressionistic and emotional interpretation of the places where man can still find solace, relaxation and also beauty. Jerzy Brukwicki Pokaz – Art. Critic Gallery |
The Praise of Simplicity
The concentration on nature in art is not common these days. Among the Polish artists of Robert Motelski’s generation /1977/ the predominant subject matter are social problems. Today we can easily come upon the art evolving and making a statement about the existing reality, and , as in the case of the young fermale artists, the art of the ‘gender’ theme. Such the art is accounted by the weeklies and sophisticated sociocultural women magazines, it arises comments on television and it is discussed in radio programmes. Amidst these trends Robert Motelski’s out-of- town landscapes and his paintings of the new floral cycle are, therefore, outstanding. This is especially because the subject brought up by the artist is unusual.The exceptionality is obviously a virtue. Robert Motelski had received a thorough artistic education – 5- year study in the Secondary Art School in Warsaw, and afterwards, the studies at the Painting Departmenr of the European Academy of Arts in the studios of the professors: Antoni Falat , Andrzej Sadowski and Ewa Pelka. His first class honours diploma was prepared under the supervision of professor Barbara Szubinska. Robert Motelski consciously accounts for the classical artistic themes. Anyway, that does not mean that the themes are treated in a traditional way, flattering, the conservative aesthetics predominant among the Poles. The landscapes painted by the artist are not the views of nature, and the flowers are not enclosed ina composition of – for example – a vase.The artistic view is limited to a fragment and the fragment becomes the whole. In the paintings such as Nocturn’ or ‘ Barn’, there are rhytmical, abstract compositions, and in the paintings with the flower motive there is a pattern ready to be duplicated. The artist uses the most contemporary language. Looking at the pictures, the first impression we get is moderation, asceticism and the simplicity of the form. The richnes of the language stems from the perfectly mastered artistic skill, which he uses with the talent unusual for his young age. The subtlety of colour, the play of light and shadow can put the vieweri in an exceptional emotional state. That can also make the beginning of retrospective journey or a recollection of the primal emotions of getting to know the world. To some extent, like in Marcel Proust’s ‘A la recherche du temps perdu’. The artist entitles his works in a simple way: ‘Birches’, ‘Oak’, ‘Reeds’, Reeds and Snow’, ‘Frost’, ‘Lake’, ‘Spring Dusk’, ‘Lotus’, and in the floral cycle, just ‘Yellow Flowers’, ‘Blue Flowers’, ‘Red Flowers’. By giving a title, the carefully considered and disciplined artistc statement becomes finished and complete. Robet Motelski’s painting is a very personal, even intimate, expression. Its reception is also highly individual. We receive a complete, full work but, irrespectively of our reception, what we get is the sense of harmony, order, peace and quiet. Perhaps a new trend in art is born? Do we need simple themes or something appealing to us in an unsophisticated way? Olimpia Maciejewska, Olympia Gallery |
Inspirations
I’m interested in the rhythm, order and peace of nature. I always start with a study of nature. I transform fragments of reality, removing inessential elements, strengthening the ones which are necessary to me. Simplified to almost abstract, basic forms, a landscape is to take an effect by planes of colour of different painting texture. Subsequently, paintings verging on abstract and reality are created. I reduce a landscape to signs, symbols to show the things which are the most important. I’m inspired by both contemporary and old art. I value C.D. Friedrich and Vermeer and also Malewicz, Mondrian and Colour Field Painting, J. Pollock; the artists associated with the Earth Art, such as J. Turell, A. Goldworthy. The art and philosophy of the East is of a great significance to me as well. Technique I paint on canvas of different sizes, depending on the subjects constituting cycles of reeds, flowers, old buildings, horizons. It is vital for me that the public know what the painting presents, which is not always simple at first glance. That is why I entitle my works depending on the cycle they belong to. I give the exact date- the day, month, time. This is not the time when a picture is being created but the time when a given situation, light , colour, composition could have occurred. In the course of work on a painting, I combine various techniques, most frequently oil and acrylic, as each of them allows for a different effect. I combine roughly, expressively painted planes with touched up forms. |