„Rough Tenderness”, the current exhibition by Izabela Siemiątkowska, presents a selection of paintings from two series the artist has been developing over the past few years — „polish pantone” and, even more recently, „The Peepers” („Podglądaczki”).

Siemiątkowska has been exhibiting since 2011, steadily building a distinctive and recognizable style. She composes with intent, choosing what to reveal with great precision — both in terms of form and distinctive palette. The exhibition captures an intimate tension between the emotional charge of her imagery and the sensory, at times austere, surface of the works. It is this contrast — between a gentle gaze and a rough touch — that shapes the titular „rough tenderness”. The show at Galeria Bacalarte features several never-before-seen works.

Izabela Siemiątkowska treats both her subjects and her canvases with a kind of rough tenderness. She prepares each support herself and paints using a signature technique that blends oil paints with wax-based paste. This method results in distinctive, grainy textures and a finish that ranges from satin to matte — a meaningful gesture in oil painting.

Her works are carefully composed and emotionally charged. What we see on the surface has been filtered through many layers — of material, memory and feeling. In „polish pantone” (2024–2025) static compositions become quiet records of emotional processing. A subdued color palette tempers private intensity, rendering personal experiences into soft greys. Siemiątkowska works masterfully within this self-imposed chromatic restraint, drawing out a wealth of nuance.

Urban spaces shaped by human intervention are a recurring theme in her work. Her framing recalls photography — though she rarely uses photographs in her creative process. The vantage point she chooses is often low, close to the ground or the floor, like that of a child or someone crouching or kneeling. In earlier works, she also experimented with a variety of aerial perspectives. We follow that gaze in several „polish pantone” canvases, though this series also invites us to look at things from the level closer to the sidewalk, the baseboard, or the windowsill. The scenes she paints lead us into a world of grey plaster, balconies, apartment blocks, overpasses, and stairwells — spaces the artist knows intimately. We ride with her under bridges that exist in real life and enter interiors she has known for years.

Windows take on special significance in „The Peepers” (2025). Here, familiar motifs return — lace curtains, fig trees — alongside the blurred, semi-legible silhouettes. Plants in these works seem to share in the act of watching. Peeping itself brings us a sense of unease, as curiosity mingles with boundaries crossing. But what is casually called peeping is, in psychological and aesthetic theory, termed voyeurism — a concept first used in medical discourse in the late 19th century, later developed by theorists of culture and cinema. Cultural voyeurs want to see what is hidden or protected, where they don’t belong or restrain themselves from belonging. It’s an inherently asymmetrical relation that privileges the watchers — or, in Siemiątkowska’s world, the female watchers. The title of her series makes it clear: „The Peepers” are women. But in her paintings, this dominance is dismantled and the viewer’s gaze imposes a new symmetry. The viewer gets close to become peeper or voyeur herself or himself. nd in doing so, risk exposing something of ourselves. A gaze directed outward may, unintentionally, turn inward. It can shift — or even reverse — the roles of watcher and watched.

„The Peepers” deserves attention for one more reason: the artist’s new approach to color. Unlike her earlier, predominantly greyscale work, these canvases glow with reds, greens, blues, and yellows. The effect is not just photographic — it is cinematic.

One final but vital element runs through Siemiątkowska’s practice: the genius loci, spirit of a place notion. In the Roman tradition, this referred to a protective spirit or presence that expressed the identity and atmosphere of a specific location. But Siemiątkowska paints non-specific locations, more of an ordinary, seemingly anonymous spaces. And yet she captures their essence so precisely that we feel we know them instantly. With care and patience, she portrays not the exact place, but rather a genius loci.

Agnieszka Becler,

Curator