Vernissage of the exhibition “Score for a Human” at the Mazovian Auction House

I would like to wholeheartedly thank everyone who attended the opening of my exhibition “Score for a Human”, which took place on September 25, 2025, at the Mazovian Auction House in Warsaw. This evening was extremely important to me – not only as a moment of presenting the results of my creative work, but above all as an opportunity to meet and talk with you.

Your presence, smiles, questions, and reflections gave this event a truly unique character. Thanks to you, the vernissage became not just the opening of an exhibition, but also a true celebration for me – a celebration of art and dialogue, which I hold so dearly.

My gratitude goes to the Mazovian Auction House for their organizational support and open hearts, without which this event could not have taken place in such a warm atmosphere and graceful form.

I would also like to thank Bogusław Deptuła for his deeper perspective on my work and his collaboration during the preparation of the exhibition.

And to Dariusz Młącki, for masterfully stepping in during the curator’s absence… for his understanding, profound analysis, and beautiful summary of my work. It was a great pleasure to hear such a thoughtful and constructive reflection.

For those who could not attend the vernissage, I have good news – the exhibition will remain open to the public until October 9, 2025. I will personally be present on Monday, October 6, and I will be happy to answer your questions.

Bogusław Deptuła

Magdalena Nowatkowska – “Score for a Human”

Centuries ago, the human figure was turned into signs, letters, numbers, and various hybrids, combined for example with animals – centaurs, sirens, minotaurs, cynocephali… There is no doubt that the human form is inspiring, and this is how I also see Magdalena Nowatkowska’s idea. She reduces the human silhouette to a kind of sign, marker, comma, pin, or perhaps simply a note – a single note, a half note, a quarter note. It does not matter. What matters is that under her brush, people, while remaining themselves, simultaneously become universal andro-signs that populate her canvases.

The works may be small in size, but they can also reach significant dimensions. These human signs, floating on neutral backgrounds, arrange themselves (or fail to arrange) into spatial forms. A kind of human Tetris slipping downward – only that Nowatkowska’s paintings are not the screens of phones or computers. Fortunately! For they create painterly enigmas, signs and riddles at the same time. Some of these human-inspired compositions are particularly difficult to unravel, so far has the painter’s passion for a kind of visual coding progressed – a process that, without the slightest doubt, takes place in her works.

Without question, we are dealing here with a deeply engaging, enigmatic, and highly individual way of portraying humanity in today’s computerized, digital reality. It is like a personal record of the artist’s personality, sensitively observing our ever-changing world order.

“Score for a Human” – one can play humans, one can also play with them, one can talk about them seriously or less so – and the artist does precisely that, balancing between seriousness and irony, enigma and sign, riddle and answer.

Dariusz Młącki on Magdalena Nowatkowska’s exhibition “Score for a Human”

“As always, we are dealing here with a truly remarkable exhibition – one where the focus is not merely on beauty or appearance, but above all on the message.

The title “Score” is particularly apt – the viewer receives a notation that can be read only personally, interpreted individually. This is painting moving toward the realm of the sign – the most difficult path, yet also the most highly valued by critics. What we have here is not straightforward figuration, but rather the artist’s own sign for the human being – for her thoughts about humanity – expressed in simplified form, almost like a pictogram. One can see her building her own alphabet – its letters gradually revealed on canvas. Each figure carries an emotional charge.

The artist also moves toward the pure sign – there are two large-format black works here, minimalist, and yet carrying immense emotion. They are somewhat like posters – synthesizing many meanings into a simple sign. Some viewers may overlook this, but others, more familiar with art, will be able to read the emotions encoded in this stripped-down language.

There is also a third group of works – very minimalist, where small elements close the composition and create emptiness. This is the most difficult challenge in art: to speak of emptiness through the presence of tiny forms. These works verge on pure abstraction, though traces of nature may be discerned – associations with the body, with landscape. Yet above all, they are thoughtful, intellectual pieces – evidence of clear thinking and precision, a pure record without unnecessary ‘chatter.’

This exhibition is truly coherent and valuable. One can see a dialogue with the avant-garde tradition of the 1920s and 30s, and also echoes of Nowosielski. I believe this is an artist worth investing in – the prices remain accessible, and the alphabet she has created can continue to develop indefinitely. In fact, there is no end to it.”

Marta Wierzbicka-Teusch from the Mazovian Auction House:

I would like to sincerely thank Madzia for being such a wonderful, composed person. When I look at Magda, I see her just as I see her paintings – to me, she is like a figure from a canvas, someone who knows her place and how to arrange everything in harmony.

I will only add that Magda’s curator is Bogusław Deptuła, who unfortunately could not honor us with his presence today due to illness. Therefore, we have asked our distinguished Dariusz Młącki to share a few words – what he thinks, what resonates in his soul, and how he feels it.

Magdalena Nowatkowska:

Perhaps I will sum it up in one sentence… “Score for a Human” is a metaphor for life, which must be played regardless of circumstances.

I warmly invite you to visit and personally experience “Score for a Human.”