Anna Sumislawska

I’m a Polish painter based in Italy. Although I have been drawing, painting, and delving into the history of art for most of my life, intricate life circumstances brought me to drop out of my artistic high school. Later, I received my master’s degree in a neighboring field—ancient culture and archaeology—and painting always remained some sort of unattainable dream. Though I was walking a different path, at the same time I was learning from the old masters and drawing and painting watercolors en plein air, especially of various quaint corners of Rome. During past archaeological excavations I had participated in I had the opportunity to create realistic drawing documentation of many findings—for example, of bronze or terracotta sculptures. My drawings can be found in publications by the Sapienza University of Rome. Another art-related field I had the chance to work in was painting handmade fresco-like decorations on transportable supports for a studio in northern Italy. Those were all little steps that brought me to what I had always wanted to do my whole life. I learned the oil painting technique in the atelier of Italian master, and my living inspiration, Marco Grassi, through painting copies of old masters from the Renaissance period: Leonardo, Raphael, and Perugino. Currently, I am dedicating all the time that I have to mastering my technique and searching for a unique style that translates my personal emotions and ideas into visual representations. I want to narrate visual tales and stories of the complex characters lost in this surreal and gloomy reality via colors, symbols, and poses. From the technical point of view, I pay special attention to soft and delicate color transitions. I want my art to remain rooted in the past painting tradition but with a contemporary accent.

* This statement has been provided directly by the artist in association to their 16^th International ARC Salon entries. This content has not been edited for typos or grammatical errors and has not been vetted for accuracy.