The paintings of Pia Krajewski examine form, depth and volume within a distinguishing visual glossary. Her paintings look organic in structure, incorporating natural elements — fruits, petals, shells or machine-like components— but abstracted beyond precision. Blending distinctive flatness with soft angles and smooth, curving lines, she renders compositions that underline both order and flow, leveling up a balance between precision and what seems cohesion in the creative language.
One of the hallmarks of Krajewski’s work is her focus on surface and materiality. But her paintings sometimes approach a sculptural quality, with forms that appear to reach beyond the canvas. The use of light and shadow to highlight their three-dimensionality gives them tactile qualities. The textures she describes — ribbed and pleated, create a kind of optical depth, coaxing the viewer’s eye to flirt with the surface rather than merely appreciating the visual attitude of the piece.
Color is also a key determinant in Krajewski’s practice. She tends to use warm yellows, soft greens and earth tones, which create a harmonious and meditative mood. These limited palettes let the structure and movement of her forms play center stage, supporting their organic yet stylized quality. Though her compositions lack figuration, they do not compromise on balance; everything here is arranged with care so as to form a single entity.
Words: yannis kostarias
For instance, these two paintings, “Metamorphosis 1 Die Gestaltwandlerin (left) and Metamorphosis 2 Die Unumkehrbare”, displayed next to one another, initiate a visual dialogue that brings up thoughts about the natural and the ornamental. Working in a kind of surrealist style, the artist creates fantastical shapes resembling both botanical structures and baroque decorations through some atonal greens dominated by the orange and yellow hues. Curvilinear motifs that suggest cascading drapery or layered petals, adding a distinctive serenity and fluidity whilst the symmetry of the compositions imbuing a controlled elegance. The constantly recurring hair-like extensions suggest motion introducing transformation and metamorphosis. These works challenge the boundaries of stasis and movement, design and nature, drawing the viewer into a space for imaginative work between the two.
Krajewski’s paintings lack specific referents or narratives, but their shapes feel familiar. In this way, through a reduction and recomposition of nature, she creates a process of perception: one in which seeing can navigate between the known and the unknown, a matter of doubling in order to double. The push and pull of abstraction and familiarity makes her work subtle but barely audible, requiring you to look at it closely. With a precise yet expressive touch, Pia Krajewski creates a visual universe that is at once restrained and dynamic. Grounded and open; her attention to texture, light, and organic structure leads to paintings that find a way of concentrating, inviting the viewer into an engagement with form, that feels expansive, in the rawest sense.
How would you define your work in a few words (ideally in 3 words)?
Calm, enigmatic beings.
Surface and texture appear to be the mainstay of your art and you achieve this through your brushwork which gives a textural – almost touchable – sensation. How do you handle these textures, and are they purely visual or are there the ones that remind you of real materials and situations?
I greatly enjoy when a painting feels as though it can be “touched” with the eyes – when one sense triggers the next. While I don’t necessarily aim to draw a direct connection to real materials, I do enjoy working with the contrasts between soft, supple surfaces and other smooth, hard textures. These differences fascinate me and add a unique depth to the works.
Could you share with us some insights on your new work named ‘Keep Your Head in Place’ (2024)? Is there any particular story behind this new painting?
Recently, my works have often been inspired by characters or specific emotions and needs. “Keep Your Head in Place” was, for me, a humorous way of addressing the longing for, or the need to, keep a cool head. The idea of being able to attach a few strings to achieve stability, like a hot air balloon, or tame a wobbly pudding, really appealed to me.
It looks like the use of the color palette of your paintings—often soft, blended, and reserved—decipherers the contemplative mood of your works. What tactics do you use in making color selections?
Yes, I appreciate creating a focused, calm atmosphere for the figures. Often, I perceive it as a portrait collection or an archive of newly discovered beings or plants. The figures are staged through the careful selection of light, color nuances, and shadows, almost like in a photo studio. The choice of colors is very intuitive, yet always with the thought of a cohesive series that, in its quiet, sober manner, captures the enigmatic beings from another world.
Your paintings are often quite sculptural to the point of giving the impression that the figures have been sliced or shaped rather than merely being painted in. Has sculpture or the concept of 3D influenced your practice and thinking very much? Would you be willing to work with other media?
Yes, absolutely. I’ve always felt a strong connection to tactile, physical objects like seeds, plants, or architectural details. Always from a perspective that reshapes and evolves them in a new and different way. Similarly, the forms in my sketches continuously develop until they ultimately appear as grown figures or constructed objects on the canvas. The painting process also feels very sculptural when I use a cloth to rub the paint thinly into the canvas and carve the forms out of a mass, relying solely on the interplay of shadow and light. From time to time, I experiment with ceramics, but what truly fascinates me is the transformation of these tactile beings into a two-dimensional space. I’m not aiming to create a real sculpture but rather to play with the nuances of physical tactility in the painterly realm.
There’s the notion of quietness and the discontinuation of time that is felt in your paintings, which results in slow and careful examination. How do you think about time during the realization of your work, both in its process and in how viewers deal with it?
Yes, I believe it’s largely about pausing and perceiving nuances that perhaps lie beyond logic. It’s a longing for a magical state of consciousness, one that involves a certain distance while maintaining total presence. It’s about perceiving what is, and existing in the space between the physical and the spiritual.
What about the place where you work now? What’s your studio space look like?
I currently live in Berlin and truly appreciate the city’s great diversity. After some time, I found a wonderful studio where I’ve been very happy for over two years. It provides enough space for my large-scale paintings, plenty of natural light, and my plants make me feel at home there. Unfortunately, as in many large cities, rents here are prohibitively high for many people. Additionally, the Berlin government has recently cut significant funding for arts and culture. This is a very concerning development and threatens the vibrant diversity of the arts & culture scene of the city. It is crucial that the government takes action.
Which are your plans for the near future?
This Saturday, a group exhibition opens at Galerie Max Hetzler in Berlin. And after that, I’m going on a 3-month residency in China. I will move into a residency studio in Hangzhou at the Art Campus of „By Art Matters“ and am really looking forward to the time on site and the exchange.
All images courtesy of the artist