Untitled

The painting consists of four vertical stretcher bars connected together, creating a vast panoramic space, painted freely with wide brush strokes. They are all covered with almost vertical, diagonal stripes suggesting the representation of a field and furrow soil, although the vivid colouring (azure, red, yellow and green) and complete lack of detail makes one assume that it is a pure abstract painting. The suggestion of perspective was achieved by pure painting means and refers to painting tradition stemming back to the post-impressionists; whereas abstract colour plays refer to the tradition of post-war modernism, which revived in the 1980s – the time when Leona Tarasewicz made his debut – with the wave of new expression. The lack of horizon line (the point where stripes intersect is far beyond the pictorial space) evokes an impression of dominant horizontality which, combined with the scale of the piece, may be a reminder of another genealogical line of this painting: abstract expressionism. However, the specific context of Tarasewicz’s biography and the fact that he works in the countryside in the eastern region of Poland (białostocczyzna) evokes the tradition of icon and Belarusian roots, which are nonetheless significant elements of the origins of his pieces. They hold no traces of religious iconography, there is, however, a similar kind of sublimation of the sensual and carnal experiences into spiritual ones. The painter is consequent in not giving titles to his works, which suggests that he wishes to escape the trap of representation, as well as to be classified on the basis of just one single and defined painting tradition. On the contrary, it is the diversity of traditions and associations that create the specific aura of Tarasewicz’s paintings – referring to both being in nature and with nature, as well as to the sophisticated colour research, which museums aim at. [A. Markowska]