It was a poorly regulated attitude that provided the incentive for my voluntary meetings with the school therapist, and I was enjoying it. The woman I met with was lovely and we talked about a variety of things that made me feel lighter and full of clarity.  However, one day we came to a serious philosophical and emotional showdown.  “Why don’t you use these?” she asked, pushing a tray full of paints, blank sheets of watercolor paper and markers towards me on the coffee table.  I freaked and became absolutely paralyzed.  I think I even stuttered: “Oh! Oh oh no no no noooooo.”  It became clear that much like other aspects of the creative process, emotional expression isn’t something you necessarily pull out of a hat like some vociferously poignant white rabbit.

However, Michal Sosinski is one of those people who are able to distill emotion and narrative into 100 proof kick-you-on-your-ass expressive painting. While the chaotic and painful essence of the work is not new, it certainly seems genuine, with motifs ranging from the political to the personal to the philosophical. Reminiscent of the immediacy and angst found in many works from Jean-Michel Basquiat to German Expressionism, Sosinski’s paintings are an amalgamation of internal emotion and external expression, the result of which is often disconcerting.

In many of the paintings, one may have a hard time gleaning the specifics. However, the particulars don’t really matter as the thematic content is cross cultural and highly narrative, albeit seemingly personal. Formally, the works are energized and expressive. You can almost see the hand moving across the painting at extremely high speeds. The aggressive mark making and unsettling palate are strangely pleasing and constantly reinforce the emotive content—which ultimately is what its all about.

Sosinski was born in 1985 in Gdansk, Poland.  He is a painter and graphic designer and is part of Krecha Group from Gdansk. The group publishes an independent magazine Krecha.