Anna Beata Baranska
born 1981 (poland)
Anna Beata Baranska was born on November 28th in 1981 in Ilza (Poland). From 2001 to 2006 she studied Painting in the Faculty of Arts Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin. She graduated under professor Jacek Wojciechowski and her diploma was awarded the Dean prize. Since 2006 she has worked in her mother school, firstly as a graduate student instructor in the Department of Traditional and Experimental Graphic Art, then since 2009 as a teaching assistant and since 2016 she is awarded a PHD in arts. Since November 2017 until October 2020 she had worked as an Associate Dean of Art and Research in the Faculty of Arts Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin. She specializes in Painting and Video. In her works, she touches time passing issues as well as political, cultural and anthropological problems. She has been awarded over a dozen times. Since 2007 her works were screened or exhibited at about 90 international and 70 national festivals and exhibitions.
My artistic work is multi-faceted, deals with various fields and it is not possible to limit it to only one medium. Looking back, my artistic activity can be divided into several areas corresponding with clearly defined chronological periods.
Between the years 2004 and 2007 I created actions involving young women who were dressed in cotton t-shirts with my authorial prints. I participated in all performances during which women were standing in a particular order with me always standing in front of them. I initiated the situation and in this way I added to it a personal dimension. All the women were wearing sunglasses, which gave an impression of anonymity. Their task was to stand still and present the t-shirts at a specified time and place. The actions, which bordered on performance and fashion shows, conveyed a message. The t-shirts were a kind of canvas as well as a medium for textual and pictorial information. They were my personal comment to the current political and social situation as well as personal issues.
I have been involved in creating videos since 2007. My works were presented at many festivals in Poland and abroad, where they received awards and commendations. My first video entitled The passing of Time was created for an individual exhibition at the Biała Gallery in the Centre for Culture in Lublin. My next videos were stop motions drawn with a pencil on paper or with the use of a graphics tablet, short video arts and docudramas.
Painting is another medium in which I fulfill myself and have always been concerned with. I paint on various surfaces, most frequently on wood, hardboard, canvas, paper and plaster. The techniques I employ include oil, egg tempera, watercolour, acrylic and calcium casein. I use prefabricated paint mixtures or prepare them myself using artists’ pigments and binders. Apart from creating original paintings I also restored both centuries-old and more modern ones while I was studying restoration techniques.
Graphics design is the area I have explored the least; however, I am planning to change that in the near future. I intend to create artworks in which graphics design will be used alongside painting technology and where matrices will be created with the use of my authorial techniques.