"Singers"
Ewa Ciepielewska
Kamil Sipowicz
Ewa Ciepielewska, KOCHAM CIĘ, KOCHANIE, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 40x30 cm
Kamil really adored Kora and Kora loved Kamil. And she loved music. Writing songs, performing on stage, collaborating with other musicians and artists – that was her spiritus movens. Throughout all 40 years of their relationship, Kamil was attuned to the key role that music played in her life, both as a listener and a performer. “There’s my world and his right alongside it,” she once remarked in an interview, highlighting the fact that the root of their loving partnership was making space for both. Their homes, one in the Żoliborz district of Warsaw and in rural Roztocze to the east, were full of music, as well as painting and sculpture. The most well-known piece created by Kora was a series of camp “Madonnas,” made out of snow-white plaster votive figures bought at a goodwill shop. Kamil’s paintings and objects had been inspired by the culture of the east, resembling mandalas, totems and votive altars. And portraits too. Over the years, he put together a collection of portraits of singers they both admired, such as Kora’s beloved Billie Holiday, but also vocalists of the younger generation, whom Kora had not gotten to know. The musical voices of women had been with them their whole lives, since childhood. First over the radio, then in albums and live in concert. “In choosing these vocalists,” Kamil explained, “I made an effort to seek out mainly those who’d been forgotten: Ludmiła Jakubczak, whose promising career was cut short by a lethal car accident, Tamara Miansarowa, whose song ‘Budet Sonce’ captured the hearts of many, Ofra Haza, a Jewish Singer from Yemen, who died of AIDS, and the New York Singer Diamanda Galas, who sang of the Armenian genocide. I’ve got about 40 to this day; I have another 40 awaiting their turn.”
In 2012, Ewa Ciepielewska took a portrait of Kora on a boat trip along the Vistula, an annual tradition of hers that soon evolved into a long-term collaborative project with fellow artist Agnieszka Brzeżańska, called Flow. This small-format, stencil-style painting was part of a series titled “Great Polish Woman with a Small Beast (in the vein of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Lady with an Ermine.” For Ciepielewska, taking the portrait on board was meant as a tribute to the singer, with whom she’d spoken only once, a long time before, in Krzysztofory Palace in Krakow. “I’d known Kora as a major star, and yet she turned out to be an incredibly kind, cordial person, who took a lively interest in art and artists,” Ciepielewska shared. She later met Kamil in Warsaw on the banks of the Vistula, where her boat had stopped on the way to Gdansk. By some stroke of luck, Kamil had found out about the painting’s peregrinations and decided to retrieve it. In this way, it became part of the collection. Ewa and Kamil remained friends, even after Kora’s passing several years later. Over the years, Kora and Kamil would share their favorite vocalists with Ewa. She would respond to their recommendations with a portrait of a singer. In this way, a series of more than a dozen major female vocalists came to life, including Maria Callas, Edith Piaf, Janis Joplin and Grace Jones. The sentiment behind these portraits are a wonderful backdrop to the exhibition and we are very pleased to share this story of music, art and friendship.
Kamil Sipowicz, Untitled, 2024, mixed technique on canvas, 50 cm
Kamil Sipowicz, Untitled, 2024, mixed technique on canvas, 50 cm
Kamil Sipowicz, Untitled, 2024, mixed technique on canvas, 50 cm
Kamil Sipowicz, Untitled, 2024, mixed technique on canvas, 50 cm
"Singers"
Ewa Ciepielewska
Kamil Sipowicz
Ewa Ciepielewska, KOCHAM CIĘ, KOCHANIE, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 40x30 cm
Kamil really adored Kora and Kora loved Kamil. And she loved music. Writing songs, performing on stage, collaborating with other musicians and artists – that was her spiritus movens. Throughout all 40 years of their relationship, Kamil was attuned to the key role that music played in her life, both as a listener and a performer. “There’s my world and his right alongside it,” she once remarked in an interview, highlighting the fact that the root of their loving partnership was making space for both. Their homes, one in the Żoliborz district of Warsaw and in rural Roztocze to the east, were full of music, as well as painting and sculpture. The most well-known piece created by Kora was a series of camp “Madonnas,” made out of snow-white plaster votive figures bought at a goodwill shop. Kamil’s paintings and objects had been inspired by the culture of the east, resembling mandalas, totems and votive altars. And portraits too. Over the years, he put together a collection of portraits of singers they both admired, such as Kora’s beloved Billie Holiday, but also vocalists of the younger generation, whom Kora had not gotten to know. The musical voices of women had been with them their whole lives, since childhood. First over the radio, then in albums and live in concert. “In choosing these vocalists,” Kamil explained, “I made an effort to seek out mainly those who’d been forgotten: Ludmiła Jakubczak, whose promising career was cut short by a lethal car accident, Tamara Miansarowa, whose song ‘Budet Sonce’ captured the hearts of many, Ofra Haza, a Jewish Singer from Yemen, who died of AIDS, and the New York Singer Diamanda Galas, who sang of the Armenian genocide. I’ve got about 40 to this day; I have another 40 awaiting their turn.”
In 2012, Ewa Ciepielewska took a portrait of Kora on a boat trip along the Vistula, an annual tradition of hers that soon evolved into a long-term collaborative project with fellow artist Agnieszka Brzeżańska, called Flow. This small-format, stencil-style painting was part of a series titled “Great Polish Woman with a Small Beast (in the vein of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Lady with an Ermine.” For Ciepielewska, taking the portrait on board was meant as a tribute to the singer, with whom she’d spoken only once, a long time before, in Krzysztofory Palace in Krakow. “I’d known Kora as a major star, and yet she turned out to be an incredibly kind, cordial person, who took a lively interest in art and artists,” Ciepielewska shared. She later met Kamil in Warsaw on the banks of the Vistula, where her boat had stopped on the way to Gdansk. By some stroke of luck, Kamil had found out about the painting’s peregrinations and decided to retrieve it. In this way, it became part of the collection. Ewa and Kamil remained friends, even after Kora’s passing several years later. Over the years, Kora and Kamil would share their favorite vocalists with Ewa. She would respond to their recommendations with a portrait of a singer. In this way, a series of more than a dozen major female vocalists came to life, including Maria Callas, Edith Piaf, Janis Joplin and Grace Jones. The sentiment behind these portraits are a wonderful backdrop to the exhibition and we are very pleased to share this story of music, art and friendship.
Kamil Sipowicz, Untitled, 2024, mixed technique on canvas, 50 cm
Kamil Sipowicz, Untitled, 2024, mixed technique on canvas, 50 cm
Kamil Sipowicz, Untitled, 2024, mixed technique on canvas, 50 cm
Kamil Sipowicz, Untitled, 2024, mixed technique on canvas, 50 cm