Bacon Watercolors: Painting
Artist Statement
Malewska’s most recent series of paintings consists of large-scale watercolors depicting various wreath-like arrangements made of bacon. Most of them are symmetrical and somewhat reminiscent of the Rorschach inkblot test. She enjoys combining the formal elegance of design with the recognizable banality of bacon, along with the surreal and absurd accompaniment of other decorative elements such as flowers, butterflies, and fruits. The arrangements are playful and whimsical in a Rococo fashion but also grotesque. In her not-so-still still-lives, she is drawing subtle parallels between the decadence and frivolity evident in certain historical genres and our contemporary culture. Yet, unlike the static tabletop displays of the traditional still life genre, her compositions use ribbons of bacon to suggest optical movement and a departure from the typically somber content of Vanitas paintings.
Monika Malewska was born in Warsaw, Poland. She received her BFA from the University of Manitoba in Canada and her MFA degree from the University of Texas at San Antonio. She is currently an associate professor of art at Juniata College.
