Artist: Magdalena Skupinska

Maximillian William presents soft crossing, Magdalena Skupinska’s fourth solo exhibition at the gallery.

Skupinska’s practice takes shape through the slow and meditative work of gathering, grinding, and layering – altered by time, steeped in the rhythms of growth and decay. Her works do not settle into stillness, but emerge from the earth, formed by the elements, taking pigment and texture from nature’s own store.

Skupinska works with pigments in their most elemental form, turning to plant fibres, minerals, and organic matter that carry the imprint of their origins. In her hands, painting ceases to be confined to canvas and frame. Chamomile and turmeric settle into the surface, while ashwagandha and holy basil yield their quiet, earthen hues. Alkanet, rich and intense in its near-black tones, creates smooth, velvety expanses, while hibiscus, with its distinctive cracking texture, fractures as it dries. The work breathes with the pulse of its making.

Rooted in this material process, the compositions are landscapes and objects at once – embedded in the physical world, yet gesturing beyond it, towards something elemental and ancient. The textures bear the weight of time, of hands shaping and reshaping, of layers formed not only by the sweep of a brush but through touch, pressure, alchemy.

Laid out, supine atop elevated wooden structures, the artworks remain tethered to the earth, drawing the viewer downward into their plane. Seeing them requires a slight bow – a gesture of collecting, preparing, reverence. The body yields, the movement is deliberate. This shift in orientation alters the dynamic between viewer and work; it is no longer encountered at eye level but approached on its own terms. The paintings do not simply present themselves – they ask to be seen differently. Their surfaces unfold gradually, revealing shifts in depth, weight, and material memory.

Through sustained experimentation, Skupinska continues to refine a technique shaped entirely by the materials themselves, allowing their physical and chemical properties to dictate the work rather than imposing control. These natural substances - extracted, ground, and distilled from organic sources - are not inert materials but active agents within an evolving process. Their transformation is gradual, shifting from the moment they are mixed to when they dry, the surface forming and settling in a constant state of flux. Like sediment carried by water or earth shaped by wind, the works refuse fixity, embracing cycles of transformation, erosion, and renewal.

Perception here too is unstable, shifting with movement, light, and distance. The textured surfaces rise and dip, catching shadows and reflecting movement. As viewers navigate the space, their perspectives shift – there is no singular vantage point, no fixed horizon. The works resist passive viewing, instead requiring movement, proximity, and repeated engagement.

Rejecting the tradition of pictorial illusionism, Skupinska’s works do not depict the landscape; they embody it. They exist within a material ecology, where process and environment dictate their evolution as much as the act of making itself. Here, painting is not a static object but an evolving entity – one that insists on attention, slowness, and an active gaze.