EN | PL

On Contemporary Painting: Process, Uncertainty, and Exploration

This speculative text on painting emerges from my painting practice and from thoughts that have collided with the vast amount of information we encounter today—often contradictory, even on fundamental truths or basic events on Earth. Acknowledging that we live within constructed versions of reality, I believe that painting, by virtue of its existence and the history to which it is bound, reaches far beyond mystification or the role of merely following these constructs. Painting can honestly manifest the fact that we do not know—and that this not-knowing is acceptable. This fundamental recognition, inherent to the painting process itself, makes it a manifestation of freedom and a frontier of human experience: one that finds comfort in the unknown as a primary condition.

Contemporary painting is a space of continuous change and exploration. A painting is not merely an illustration of ideas, a vehicle for content, or autonomic being — it is a dynamic practice of collaboration between the artist, material, time, and chance. It is a process in which intentions meet the resistance of paint, matter, and the unexpected. In moments when the painting begins to lead rather than follow, painting truly happens — as an experience that cannot be reduced to a final outcome or a fixed definition.

In this sense, full control and “pure” positions are an illusion. Painting functions as a dynamic, unpredictable collaborative practice. The goal is not always to know what will happen but to navigate consciously between the known and the unknown. This space allows for the expansion of perception, new ways of thinking, and the discovery of the medium’s subtleties.

The creative process is not limited to the artist’s biological responses; it is a complex phenomenon in which biological, psychological, material, and yet-unknown systems interact within a dynamic network. The unknown manifests itself in the relationships between the known and the not-yet-known. One can think of this both in terms of Jungian unconscious processes and quantum relationships — in both cases, we are dealing with a process of continuous change. Painting emerges as a constantly transforming field of relations and flows of information, something that cannot be fully captured or defined, and perhaps this is what makes it so essential.

Process and Media

The question of process becomes even more complex when we consider other media. Today, many artistic media suffer from the notion that “everything can be everything.” While this flexibility benefits conceptual approaches, it often comes at the cost of deeper reflection on the specificity of each medium and its processes. I focus here on painting because of the particular freedoms it allows: the possibility of working across the entire field in real time, rapid feedback loops, and operating beyond physical constraints. This enables a process based on negotiation with material, intuition, and a suspension of full knowledge.

On Technique and Practice

In contemporary painting, the notion of technique must be understood more broadly than mere technical skill. If we reduce technique solely to craft, the painting risks becoming rigid or shallow. Conversely, a conscious absence of technical mastery can also be part of a holistic expressive approach. Similarly, limiting discussions about painting to rational, constructive communication confines us to a strictly logical space, an illusion shaped by human constructs. Paradoxically, part of the artist’s “technique” today is the ability to work with uncertainty and harmonize it with highly controlled elements. In contemporary painting, the challenge is less about making decisions and more about receiving a spectrum of perceptible phenomena and integrating them coherently into the work.

The boundaries of painting often risk simplification into categories like figurative, descriptive, abstract, or objective, or hybrids thereof. Images can be humanistic, emotional, technically precise, rational, or ideally, a blend of these qualities. They are contemporary, but fundamentally temporal. Only some works exist independently of time. While there is a tendency to seek historical or socio-political relevance, the most critical element remains the painterly practice’s willingness to immerse itself in the unknown. Science may help distinguish the known from the unknown, but art — especially fine art guided by instinctual freedom — becomes a stance that embraces the momentum of the unknown.

Inspiration, “Why,” and the Core of Painting

At the heart of painting lies a constant engagement with the unknown. Inspiration is often a surface phenomenon; the deeper question is “why” something is painted, rather than “what.” The “why” emerges through process — an ongoing encounter with the unknown, a field that transforms continuously as knowledge accumulates. The “what” is a cultural construct, one of many possible outcomes. True painting resides not in a static answer but in the dynamic engagement with uncertainty.

The act of painting balances extremes in multiple areas:

• Light versus darkness
• Figuration versus abstraction
• Ignorance versus perfection
• Subjectivity versus objectivity

The painting may speak for itself or through the artist. The question of preparation, affect, and the space of the image remains central. The painter negotiates with the medium, intuition, and material to create a work that exists as an artifact of a process, not merely as an object.

Practicality and the Role of the Process

At first, an open creative process may seem “impractical” in an instrumental sense — unless treated as a meditative practice. When pursued diligently, however, such a process can yield practical outcomes, achieving a balanced interplay between intuition and decision, improvisation and control. The result is a work that carries tangible effects, such as expanded perception and awareness. The initiation and continuation of the process often feel “counter-practical,” especially compared to rigid disciplines like engineering, where there is no room for suspension of the unknown. In painting, that suspension is essential.

Temporary Conclusion

Contemporary painting is neither fully predictable nor completely controlled. Its value lies in the dynamic engagement with material, intuition, and uncertainty, in the interplay of multiple systems, and in the capacity to expand perception and thought. To understand it fully, we need a language that captures process rather than mere outcome, and a discourse that embraces complexity over simplification. Only then can we approach painting as the profound, evolving practice it is — a field of discovery, co-creation, and continuous transformation.