Vinkiel, by Polish artist Paulina Olowska, features a woman standing at a street corner, kimono-clad with cigarette dangling carelessly from her lips. It’s unclear who she is and what brings her there. The box of newspapers by her feet offers a clue and her pose- hands slouched on hips– suggests disenchantment and boredom, rather than defiance.
Women are central to Paulina Owloska’s paintings, which are filled with references to Eastern European and American Pop Culture and are inspired by her experience growing up in Communist-era Poland. This work’s title “Vinkiel” is an invented word that sounds like the German-word “winkel”, meaning angle or corner. Paulina describes the curve as a metaphor for the painting as it is something that creates suspense and implies a new phase. As with many of her works there are personal details in the picture, including her car in the background and the sign of the street on which she grew up in Gdansk.
PAULINA OLOWSKA (B. 1976)
oil on canvas
Acquired in 2022
