Collection

Painter, photographer, creator of objects. She is a graduate of the Faculty of Painting at the University of Arts in Poznań. She prefers small-scale canvases and blending painting techniques, combining watercolour fragility with heavy acrylic, and occasionally embellishes her images with ornamentation, such as glitter, beads or lace. She employs a few simple motifs in constructing whimsical narratives, sharing intimate anecdotes and usually bringing them to a point with short titles. She focuses on themes of corporeality and physical experience. She lives and works in Zielona Góra.

Pink human or animal figures against a bright background are a trademark component in Basia Bańda’s oeuvre. Her consistency in applying such a colour palette in Spring brings something carnal and sensual to mind on the one hand, yet girlish and innocent on the other, as if straight from a little girl’s room. The figure standing inside the flower, seemingly a hint at Andersen’s Thumbelina, may intrigue the viewer—eyes covered by a black blindfold, one hairy shin entwined in a floral flagellum.

This painting was created in the aftermath of a long holiday journey Basia Bańda took with her boyfriend in 2009. Upon her return, melancholy and nostalgia for places warmer than Poland set in, all distinctly visible in Jungle. The naked figure in a banana crown, lush tropical flora and resting monkeys all combine into a vision of the perfect place on Earth. The viewer becomes a voyeur, palm fronds and tall grass morphing into an unsurpassable barrier. The magnificent sun-drenched world remains unreachable.