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JANUS (Janusz Pol-Stralkowski) - the painter and performance artist born in Poland, works with specific topics, handled in cycles, until they become drawn out. These topics, as ways or lanes, which the artist follows, are used to answer the questions, which occupy him as a human. The question of the difference between human being and doll has been pursued by the artist exactly the same way as the questions:
Spears as symbols of death speak in his picture "Defeat of a Bull" a well understandable language. Abstract represents the painter his relationship with music e.g. "Swan Lake by Tschaykowski", "La Mere by Debussy" or "Chopin". In his music series, the colors shine from Chagallblue up to the flaming red-orange. These colors, as well as the harmony associated with the pictures, are significant for Pol-Strzalkowski - a synthesis of feelings. The dealing of people with each other - the human cross relationship is currently a central topic of his works. The painter attempts to create a tension through the structures, using very often pasty color task in his oil paintings Strength through colors in the oil painting is for him an important request. The paint receives a special mark after treatment with comb, feathers and wood. Mr. Strzalkowski feels a primordial fear when faced with the empty, white canvas. It costs a lot of effort to destroy the completeness of white surface. A frequent over-painting of his works shows a very selfcritique attitude. The aggressions are being built up with the guided brushstrokes. However, these aggressions are hardly felt in his works. Instead of them warmth, harmony and joy of life radiate positive feelings on a spectator. In his picture"The Meeting"for example, the dream of happiness appears in a narrow relation of two beings who merge into one for a perfect harmony. In a recent cycle of paintings the artist tries to deal with the question of love without expectation, the perfect harmony, and the question of his own abilities. Yet the spectator feels no doubts in a work. For him, the quiet beings on the canvas symbolize confidence and hope. The figures, which Janusz paints, merge with expressive, abstract lines in infinite dance. The mask like expression of their faces is similar to modern icons. A certain expression of the face and a head sloping strongly, often with a very long neck reminds of the Chagall’s figures and lets the parallel with icon painting become more visible. The painter leads his spectators very close to his figures by concentrating on portraits and acts. No details from the background irritate the view. You can concentrate exclusively on the bodies and in current works foremost on the hands. The hands were once a weak spot in his works. Today the artist uses them to give a special expression to the pictures. The inflexible hand, sometimes performing unnatural movements guides the glance of the observer to the essential. In this case, faces and hands are brought to luminescence with bright color reflexes. Without concessions to current trends, the artist sets in his paintings the question that occupies him. The one of life without compromises. If you consider his works from former periods up to now, you can see a tendency to synthesis and abstraction. But despite of the evolution in his works the inner strength still remains and radiation from his pictures is always present. Mr. Strzalkowski’s pictures are like poles of composure, that seem to bear a secret within, yet they give the rest and confidence to the people who look at them.
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