Karolina Jabłońska Hand in the grass, 2023

In a departure from her works which focus on striking portrayals of her own features, Hand in the grass belongs to Karolina Jabłońska’s series of landscape paintings inspired by the Polish countryside.

Executed in oil on canvas, this large-scale work depicts a stormy landscape filled with thick transparent raindrops. Unexpectedly, a hand rendered in a distinct blue purplish palette appears on the right side of the composition. Jabłońska’s depiction of figures often suggest strong emotions and evoke a visceral response in the viewer. We feel the freezing cold, even if her figure, lying in the rain, in a frozen lake or with her head encased in a giant ice cube, appears not to mind. Everyday situations—such as wringing out a wet garment or washing one's hair—take on a suggestive power in their monumental size and coloristic intensity.

Images of Jabłońska’s figures in unpleasant weather often suggest analogies between weather conditions and mental and physical states. Appearing as desolate landscapes, in turn drenched, muddy or icy, these outdoor scenes emerge as sites for exploring personal feelings, all the while fully aware of the deceptive straightforwardness of such analogy —and wittily embracing the long history of landscape motifs as atmospheric markers.