Basia Krol

Lives and works in Galesburg, IL, USA

Artist statement

Artist Statement Inspired by indigenous and restored natural habitat, my art explores the intersection of ecology and spirituality. Using traditional oil painting techniques I build my images through a variety of expressive and meditative mark-making. My nature inspired compositions hover between abstraction and realism. During the pandemic I developed a sense of urgency like I had never experienced before. It was like a Heideggerian existential shift: the act of being intensified by lurking nothingness. I found a new appreciation for landscape and began experiencing nature with new clarity. Over the last 4 years, I have been painting almost exclusively scenes from Indiana Dunes Park and Woodland View Farm in Illinois, where the owners created a vast prairie restoration. Whenever my daughter rides horses, I hike and play in the woods, like a child. Before I take a photo, I practice awareness and take a mental picture of that particular spot in spacetime. I memorize the details, light and texture. It is this experience more than the snapshots, that my paintings are based on. I want to take people to places they didn't know they missed.

Artwork