New York-based artist Winston Chmielinski paints figures that burst with a wealth and richness of colour. His pungent compositions are vivid and intense, painted with rigorous marks made by big brushes. Chmielinski juxtaposes figurative images with abstracted forms, creating beautiful contemporary compositions that have a freshness and vitality in its approach.

Winston Chmielinski has spent time studying in Beijing, France and Spain. He has frequently exhibited his works throughout the US, and has also exhibited in Canada, Spain and the UK.

In his own words

What drives you to create? Have you ever felt like you had a choice?
I make the choice every morning after breakfast. I have to remind myself not to take productive time for granted. Creating is the flipside of seeing, and awareness requires an active state of body and mind. I just wish I didn’t get so lightheaded from all the oil fumes!

Where do you get your inspiration from? What, or who inspires you the most?
It’s important for me to always be on the lookout. I’m partial to painters because of my sensitivity to the medium: sincerity is easy to spot. However I prefer to engage my favorite painters in dialogue, and inundate myself instead with prodigal works of music and literature, because the impulse to paint, for me, must arise out of something more than aesthetic attraction.

CAN YOU FIND ME IN MY PILE OF TRASH
120 x 160 cm
oil on canvas

There is an energetic and honest approach to your work. Do you plan every step of your work or is it spontaneous?
Every painting is a race against physical fatigue and fading first impressions. I’m getting better at calling it quits before I slow down to a crawl… Because if there’s one thing that always ruins a painting, it’s backtracking over brushstrokes. I have to have faith that my hand knows where it’s been, so that I can see its gesture all the way through without catching on the original lines of whatever image I’m referencing. The best moments of a painting happen between what is felt and what is seen.

How do you develop your ideas through to resolved finished images?
I fail a lot, which is undoubtedly a good thing. Ideas need to be massaged out or they calcify the mind. Every painting I dream up seems like the next best thing, so I have to nest ideas and images and keep watch over them to see which are strong enough to survive. For as much as painting is about building up, it’s also about letting go.

A ROUND OF CROSSFIRE PRAYERS GOES CLIP CLAP CLIP
50 x 70 cm
oil on canvas

Why is the artist in a unique position to make statements that cause us to relate? What do you think the artist offers that say a politician or a leader or a teacher cannot?
The indelible personal expression of art might seem like a paradox until it’s given some thought. Our humanity is fact, whereas its propagations are ephemeral. Art knows how to get deep inside a person, because that’s where it comes from. And I believe profoundly that everything must be affected from within. These world-wide cuts on arts education funding are an atrocious affront to present and future generations. Imagination and reflection are our greatest assets and if they are not nurtured they will rust.

When people come to your exhibitions how do you want people to feel and walk away?
Nothing moves me more than when people return to see my exhibitions a second or third time. A painting that compels you to stay can seem, in that moment, like the realest thing there is.

What concepts are you currently exploring and what will you embark on next?
I’m engaging with figuration on a much more intimate scale, which deflates the body and its proportions to the point that inside impulses burst through. I will continue to work small until I feel my ideas merit more space. I’m very much looking forward to that.

In 2011 Winston Chmielinski New York University Gallatin School of Individualized Study, New York, with Honors Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and creative writing. He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

All images courtesy of Winston Chmielinski | www.wi-ch.com

For more information on Hong Kong Art Tutoring please contact:
Gail Deayton
Telephone: +852 9722 8353
Email: info@hkarttutoring.com

THREE CAN BE SO VICIOUS
50 x 70 cm
oil on canvas

MY BEDROOM, THE THINGS INSIDE, THE STAIRS LEADING UP, AND THE HOUSE IT’S IN
48 x 48 inches
oil on canvas

PHASES
80 x 60 cm
oil on canvas

UNTITLED
14 x 11 inches
oil on linen