Debuts: Luiza Mężyńska

The Silver Gallery Under the Quail's Basket, Main Square 38

4 May – 12 June, 2021

Opening hours:

Monday - Friday: 10:00 a.m.- 6:00 p.m.

Saturday: 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

The exhibition is presented as part of the Debuts exhibition cycle and constitutes a prize awarded by the Gallery of Art in Legnica in the Władysław Strzemiński Competition – PROJECT addressed to final-year students and organised by the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź since 1983. The aim of the Debuts series is to enable young artists to appear on the artistic scene and to gain their first experiences in presenting their own work.

Luiza Mężyńska – a graduate of BA studies at the Faculty of Textile and Fashion at the Władysław Strzemiński Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź. In 2019 she defended her diploma in the Department of Jewellery (Jewellery Design Studio) under the direction of Sergiusz Kuchczyński, PhD. Winner of the Władysław Strzemiński Competition Project 2019 organised for students at the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź. Currently continuing her studies at master's level.

Luiza Mężyńska's exhibition includes a collection of jewellery inspired by the "wabi-sabi" philosophy, i.e. the Japanese art of living well, and "Beauty" – a collection of pendants.

The artist's projects are in a way a record of her personal experiences, hidden memories and emotions. Inspired by the surrounding world, she focuses in particular on seemingly insignificant elements, often overlooked by the others.

The diploma collection is divided into two groups, differing in form and character. The first part focuses primarily on wabi-sabi features such as asymmetry, time lapse and raw material. This has resulted in the creation of functional forms with an unspecified purpose, which leaves the viewer free to use and interpret the objects.

The collection contains nine elements, ranging from the most irregular, symbolising the fu part, to the more balanced, representing ryū in the concept of furyū (fu-wind, ryū-flow).

Diploma collection inspired by the wabi-sabi  philosophy, objects, brass, 2019

The next set consists of six pieces – three rings and three pendants. Unlike the first group, where the form was the key aspect, here the main role is played by colour and the raw lump of stone, both juxtaposed with geometric shapes.

Diploma collection inspired by the wabi-sabi  philosophy, pendant, gold-plated brass, epoxy resin, 2019

"Beauty" is a collection consisting of three pendants. They are made of oxidised alpaca and polyester resin, in which women's cosmetics - eye shadows - are embedded. The idea behind this collection is the perception of beauty and attractiveness in the modern world, where a woman and make-up form an inseparable duet. It happens, however, that this form of "dressing up" even drowns out natural beauty.
By enclosing cosmetics in pendants, the artist aims at creating a shield – a make-up accessory that boosts self-confidence, but in a completely different way. The alleged beauty hidden in jewellery serves only as a complement to an outfit, making it useless to enhance nature with make-up.

Beauty Collection, pendant, oxidized alpaca, epoxy resin, eyeshadow, 2019