Gosia Komorski is Polish-Canadian artist currently based in Toronto. She has painted more than 25 public murals in the GTA and beyond since 2015. Her latest work is on display in the shower rooms at the reimagined Gladstone House, which re-opened its doors last month. Gosia is one of the many artists featured in the hotel’s new art program. The initiative has been designed to preserve the hotel’s rich history in the arts, while ushering in the next phase in the hotel’s evolution.
Gosia’s portrait series inside Gladstone House is called Assembled Loneliness – From the Pages of Vogue I and Assembled Loneliness – From the Pages of Vogue II. It’s a visual retelling of life stories involving inspiring women through patterns, symbolizing their past and present. As the pandemic prevented a lot of contact to fully continue with the series, Gosia kept busy by making collages from magazines and scraps, playing with patterns and shapes. These two murals are the outcome of these creations.
Your work was one of over 50 pieces selected from over 500 entries in the call for submissions. What did it feel like when you were informed that you were selected?
I was so thrilled when I found out that my art was selected! I’ve always loved visiting the hotel and taking in all the art, so it’s an amazing feeling to now be a part of this legendary community and have my art reaching not only locals, but travelers from around the world.
Did you get to choose the location of where your art would be?
Each artist was carefully assigned a room within the hotel that would provide the most suitable backdrop for their piece. Creating murals for the two shower rooms for the fitness studios was a unique exercise in creativity. I love that the work isn't obvious and initially visible... it’s like a secret to the unsuspecting person taking a shower!
What does it mean for you to be part of the hotel’s new art program?
It’s a really special moment for me! Funny enough, a pivotal moment in my career was taking part in the OCAD University Alumni Exhibition in 2012, which took place at Gladstone House and was the first time my art was publicly shown. At that time, my largest piece of art to date was 12x24 inches and today I am creating murals that are usually around 10-15 feet high. My piece at Gladstone House is around 7 feet wide in both rooms. It truly is a full circle moment, having started my career at the Gladstone and now being a part of this new phase of the hotel. It’s an honour to now be part of the new art program and the reinvention of the Gladstone.
Is your process for creating outdoor public murals different from a project like this one?
I have only ever created outdoor murals, so the shower room was a completely different canvas to work on. It did pose some challenges. I approached this project the same as I would an outdoor mural, but then realized while I was working that the process is very different. Overall, the piece took longer to complete than an outdoor mural would. With outdoor artwork, you can step back and see the piece in full, but when viewing this mural specifically, you experience the art piece by piece. This definitely makes it difficult to get images of the full piece, since it's in an enclosed space, but I love that when people visit the shower rooms, they can experience my art in a different way and be fully immersed by it.
What feelings do you hope to evoke in people when they see this work? What do you want people to come away with after they see your work?
These murals were created this past year, during COVID, which was a time when a lot of us couldn’t see family and friends. I normally use my family and friends as the inspiration/subjects for my pieces, where I end up conveying their emotions in my artwork. Instead I had to resort to magazines and similar visual aids. This was challenging, since I couldn’t invoke that person’s feelings and emotions. I had to guess what that person was feeling, which I conveyed through my choice in patterns and colours. The pieces ended up becoming a visual biography and reflection of my own frustrations I was feeling, not being able to be with loved ones in person. I often use colours and patterns as a way of connecting people to my work and I hope that anyone viewing my murals can take away a little piece of the art that they resonate with most.
What are you working on next?
I have an exciting piece currently in the works in the Yonge and Eglinton area, which is actually going to be my largest piece yet, 35f high, full of exciting patterns and colours! So stay tuned for more on that! For now, I’m just really excited for the community to see the new Gladstone House and be able to take in all the wonderful artwork displayed around the hotel, along with discovering my pieces. I’m so pleased to be in such good company!
Interview by Glodeane Brown
Photos provided by Gladstone House
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