Magdalena Ciemierkiewicz

The idea of a mystical, immaterial space appears in my work alongside its physical, object-based presence. A play emerges between imagination and physical reality: a distance from the illusory nature of the image, combined with a desire to locate a spiritual space within it, creates an ambivalence that forms one of the central axes of these works. This is also connected to a question about the contemporary status of the image, which in tradition functioned as a carrier of spiritual meaning. In my work, material reality intertwines with a desire to return to the realm of the sacred and to rediscover it through form.

The color blue, recurring throughout successive works, holds particular significance for me. From the perspective of Earth, blue is the color of outer space as we perceive it through the sky. As the most spiritual of colors, blue—and its specific shade, ultramarine—has appeared throughout history as a spiritual symbol.

In the presented cycle of abstract works, I combine the symbolism of this color with the idea of an inaccessible, infinite cosmic space, seen from the perspective of one of countless planets. Blue is a color of calm, yet it can also be highly aggressive and unsettling. Its shades form a spectrum that seems to originate from a mystical, distant realm—the world of imagination. As Wassily Kandinsky described it: “The deeper the blue becomes, the more strongly it draws humanity toward infinity, awakening a longing for purity and, ultimately, for the supernatural.” […]

In my works, the circle is a recurring form. It appears not only as a compositional element but also as the physical shape of the painting itself, emphasizing its material presence. By abandoning the traditional frame in works composed as tondi, a situation is created in which illusion is contained within a material object.