Interview
Marek Zgodka (Abstractblue)
Marek Abstractblue is a London-based abstract impressionist painter with great sensitivity. He creates works by bending what is meant by reality, sometimes even touching on irrationality.
On canvas, Marek expresses his subjective point of view on objects, people’s interactions, and their deepest emotions. His motto is ‘Everything that is not obvious is exciting’.
Marek uses color and form to express the taste of a moment, and feelings presented as an expression to the viewer with long-lasting deep thoughts relating to the reality of being.
His main medium is high-luminosity oil colors, where its diversity of space is presented as texture interconnected and arranged in close proximity to light waves, which are interpreted by the observer in their own way.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“I’m a self-taught artist and I owe my experience and love for painting to my mother, Anna, an artist. My passion for fine art came from the awe I felt observing her world of exhibitions and paintings.
In the late ’90s, I was deeply immersed in the creation of music which I composed within an ambient contemporary environment which encompassed an experimental flow into the deepest of one’s imaginations. It wasn’t until around 2004 that I found myself drawn more towards fine art.
Around 2006, I applied for fine art studies in London but never sent the application due to personal reasons. 12 long years passed with a feeling of deep distress, missing the scent of Schmincke Mussini’s paint and canvas, just waiting for that day to happen. Finally, in 2020, the world changed due to COVID, presenting me with a time to start over. New artworks emerged and my imagination was at its greatest, and soon enough, I had the pleasure of participating in exhibitions.”
What inspires you most?
“I love artists who can create the distorted higher dimensional reality of the state of the mind. I read more books on science than art . I love Einstein (and his hairstyle!), and authors such as Franz Kafka both for his distance and alienation properties, Henri Bergson, for his Time and Free Will book, and Jeffrey Satinover, for The Quantum Brain. They all write to engage with the mind, philosophy, and quantum physics. I also love Albert Camus for all of his beautiful work.
My influences come from philosophy, astrophysics, existentialism, linguistics, and quantum philosophy, and the cognitive processes involved within. My abstract creative approach comes also from a number of writers such as Niche, Jacques Derrida, Jean-Paul Sartre, John L. Casti, and from the paintings of Arshile Gorky, and Wassily Kandinsky.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“I love art that questions reality’s state of mind and feelings. It can be presented in an abstract fashion or be inspired by the question of the reality of being. Art that deals with human and social interactions and all feelings emerging through the state of the second as it passes away, where millions of neutrinos just flow through our body without interaction. Or maybe NOT ! It can be the alternative description for every person that reflects in mind of observing point or object. The mind that makes the abstract ideas definite, makes you believe abstract ideas!”
How would you describe your work?
“My work steps outside the details, color, subjects, or forms presented on my canvas. My oils evoke a sense of chaos in emotions and explores abstract concepts that are subtle. It can touch the deep reflections within, as it relates to the emotional states that everyone goes through during their beautiful journey of life.
Finally, the question of art birthing something new every day is just an impulse given by social energy particle-based stimuli by the fleeting second. From the reified symbolic expression of creative imagination all by the color and form created on my canvas.”
“My love is of the abstract which welcomes you to a world where real emotions are visible and where
nothing is hidden.”
Which artists influence you most?
“The whole process of creation is very individual, and all artists go through different periods during
the creation process, which I love. It’s extremely hard to select a favorite artist. In our digital time, the possibilities of exploring new artists is just incomparable to any other period of time. I love the work of Olafur Eliasson, the merging of science and art on a large enveloping scale. Installation work is wonderful because you feel part of the artwork, you’re inside it and for that moment you’re taken out of reality.
I always will love Picasso’s artwork, basically for co-founding the Cubist movement which is preserved forever. I also enjoy the works of Henri Matisse, Mika Nishimura Wifredo Lam, a few new emerging artists, and my friends Brenda Lourenco, Blair Gallacher, Laurent Dorchin, Talip Keser, Lhwa Kim, and Zhuang Hong YI.”
What is your creative process like?
“I appreciate the inseparableness of the mind and quantum process and embrace the philosophical nature of emotion. I believe I have an increased sensitivity to emotional or social stimuli—all is related deeper in quantum states within us. We can translate quantum process and receive information through a perceptive-conscious state of mind, resulting in message image feelings received, which for me, translates into color and form on my canvas.
Everything that’s not obvious is exciting! I use color and form to express a taste of a moment and feeling. The scent of the Mussini colors along with daily emotional influences divert me directly to where and how the oil should be applied on my canvas. However, this process could take years to finalize due to insufficient social input on the day of creation.
Whenever I have a destination on the approach to my canvas, it never works as emotions take higher properties and the splash of paint becomes the dream color and motion of the day. I build up the surface of the picture plane with layers, using paint applied with my fingers, pallets of thick impasto, and the pallet knife. This allows me to move quickly and spontaneously, with the detail being revealed later. I pay greater attention to the balance of contrast between line, shapes, and the spaces in between, than in applying final figurative layers straight from the tubes of oil paints. The whole process takes me through a journey of happiness and freedom.
Emotions have their own labels, all of which are exploited for your pleasure to sustain forever within yourself and your mind. This provides you with a passionate, peaceful, delightful experience of yourself.
Inspired by quantum philosophy and the interaction of the Laniakea, my work brings together a narrative of global consciousness, the unknown murmuration of physics and philosophy, or just a holographic act of our mind presenting the nature of being.”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“We are living in a digitized world where everything is floating away from the real world, and where everything is becoming less. This is the beginning of change towards our future perception in the whole evolution process. This change is inevitable and very welcome.
Art is a dynamic concept, something that’s constantly changing over time, and often leads to unexpected results. The best way to approach art is to evolve with it, and observe it by accepting the inability to fully understand its logic. In this way, art will evolve together with us, and in the near future, art could be presented to all of us through the mind only.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“I have enjoyed participating in the following exhibitions:
2023 – artist of the month , ART from Heart London.
- Escape, Juniper Rag exhibition USA.
2022 - Kaleidoscope, The Holly Art Gallery London.
- The new Artist Fair, London.
- Parallax Kensington London.
- Boomer Gallery Magazine London.
- Star of a Day, BBA gallery Berlin.
2021 - M.A.D.S Milan Gallery.
2006 - On The Rocks, Hastings 2006 Hysterica.
I believe 2023 will be a very dynamic year as I’m planning to travel with my art around Europe and
maybe worldwide. I’ve applied to: SwissArtExpo Zurich 2023, Artistcloseup magazine and interview
EU, 2023 Creative Master – Art Tour International US, 2023 Galeria Moderna London 2023, VAA
Professional Artist Award, 2023 ARTBOXY exhibits artworks in galleries around the world, Parallax
London, Cultivate presents Mixtape No. 4—a maxilmalist group show, TENSION"—an Artist book by SU4IP UK,”
Website: www.abstractblueart
Instagram: @abstractblue1
