En face

Malgorzata Neubart, the figures that you paint appear unworldly. Either their gaze is turned within or they gaze out unwaveringly from the picture, but right through us. What world do they live in?

Outside this world. Their unworldly and monological gaze comes from icon painting, in which I have developed a strong interest in recent years. I wish to provide my portraits with this gaze. I utilise it as an essential means of expression and element of my painting, in order to bring about a special form of confrontation with the person before us.

It almost feels wrong to get so close to these people in the midst of a very intimate moment; at the same time, they are so deeply absorbed that their unapproachability has something very alluring and very unadulterated about it.

Yes, that’s true. My painting is very personal in nature. I understand it in the sense of an authentic inner experience and its transformation. But, at the same time, I don’t wish to reveal too much. We shouldn’t try to articulate everything in words.

Does that mean the inner experience is about getting closer to the person whom you depict or create?

For me, when I paint, the focus is on sensibility. Creativity doesn’t interest me as much as the artistic process itself. I have a vision and, working from there, I try to transport as many realistic elements as possible on to another level by means of painting.

Published in the catalogue of the exhibition “Index 10”, Kunsthaus Hamburg, 2010