A student at “the two” Marzena Bancewicz comes from a family with strong artistic traditions. Her grandfather, Jan Bancewicz, was a well-known artist. He worked in graphic art, painting and wood sculpture. “He helped me a lot, but in fact everything began with my mother,” the young artist tells istotne.pl. “She noticed that I had talent. She made me start drawing.”
The exhibition, which opened on Tuesday, April 4, at the Michał Twerd Gallery, features both Marzena’s works and her grandfather’s paintings. The former reveal a fascination with medieval art, including Anglo-Saxon and Viking art, as well as with thoroughly contemporary art—films and television series. Among the portraits drawn by the II LO student are the title character from Guillermo del Toro’s brilliant “Pan’s Labyrinth,” Katniss Everdeen from the “The Hunger Games” film series, Indiana Jones, and Queen Świętosława, the sister of Bolesław the Brave. In the case of the latter, the inspiration was a book by Elżbieta Cherezińska.
Creating a portrait takes Marzena one or two days. The graphics inspired by medieval art are much more time-consuming. The works, as the artist herself says, are created “simply.” “Otherwise, I would just be bored,” she adds.