Polish artist Katarzyna Gajewska who lives in Ireland is an artist definitely tipped as 'the one to watch'.

Katarzyna describes her painting process as something between her dreams and documentation. She states "My art is situated in the middle – not in the realistic and not in the abstract, in popular meaning. I am looking for human simplicity and complexity in the same way. I am trying to catch the casual feelings, naked and defenceless in their realism, and then with understanding and patience I start to build portraits.

"My portraits are like multilayered cocoons, profoundly intimate, sexual or innocent. Psychological topography; still glances, crucial in their expression are uncovered in layers of my paint. Bold, rich and dramatic faces are like language; pulsing and inspiring. My portraits are my form of communication. For me no subject is sacred. The role of provocative feelings, persuasion, as well as the human impulse to beautify compels my works of art.

"I don't use any tools besides my hands – to be closer. I could say that my art is a first hand emotion – and that's why I am painting only with my hands. It allows me to make close ups much deeper than they really are. I love using extreme zooming in – in life and in my paintings.

"My inspirations are deeply rooted in myself. I'm trying to search for inspiration every day: To reach for the deep feelings hidden below the surface of appearances, to pull them out from behind the window pane. It is a permanent record of fleeting sensations. This release from naturalism is a real struggle between the forces of creation and destruction."

Gajewska says in her Artist Statement: " Layering of both figurative and abstract elements, I am making a combination of visual clichés from dreams and stories from childhood; stories that kept us dry mouthed, stories which help to tackle issues of identity: Stories, which seem to be scary, depressing, black, but are also innocent and melancholic.

"My focus on everyday life gives me a sense of estrangement and marginality, a sense of tranquility, melancholy, loss. In my current body of work, I went to the world of dreams, which immerses us in fears and longings, the world, in which hypocrisy, monotony and distance are never the only subjects under the microscope.

"A strong feeling, fear seems to be a forbidden or repressed area of consciousness nowadays, where nothing appears as it should, which is tragic-comedienne mix of inspiration and desperation for me. Looking for freedom from reality, utilizing automatic techniques and careful study, I am exploring physical expression of emotion and the fundamental themes of life.

"Heavily applying the paint, I am playing with beauty and the expanse of dreams.". Katarzyna Gajewska exhibits regularly in Joan Clancy Gallery, Mweelahorna, Ring, Co Waterford.