A few months ago I met a Polish artist. Her name is Magda Wegrzyn. We met at a show in Budapest at one of the local galleries. She was exhibiting her work along with a few other artists from Austria.

The curator of the show had been looking for artists that would support his theme around investigative painting and came across her portfolio on Works.io.

Magda approaches her art from an exploration of digital errors. Her pieces address questions of perception and communication through aesthetics, digital technologies, and the medium of painting.

Magda has been thinking a great deal about virtual reality (VR) – along with the rest of us somewhat involved in the technology space – and how virtual reality relayed through a screen connects with or communicates differently than the VR expressed in a painting. She’s playing with different outputs and VR along with exploring how we interact differently with digital content vs. the medium of painting.

Back to how we met, I had stopped by the exhibition with my kids, and then came back a week or two later – intrigued and still thinking about Magda’s work. I was considering buying one of her pieces but they were all outside my budget – way outside. I put the thought of buying a piece to rest.

A little bit later, I was still itching for a new piece of artwork and decided to set an open call on Works.io with a $1,000-2,000 budget. I was open in terms of medium and theme. I was reconnected with Magda through her online portfolio when she applied to my open call on Works. We talked more about what I was looking for and why I liked her pieces. Simultaneously, through the open call I was also having additional conversations with other artists. While I ended up selecting Magda as the winner for this open call, I’ve now gotten to know several other artists and their works. I have those artist’s portfolios saved in my account so as I look to acquire more pieces I can easily pick up where we left off and collect more incredible pieces along with the appreciation I now have for these individuals.

After I selected Magda as the winner of this open call, she selected a painting for me based on our conversations and my budget. I received it a bit ago and I have to be honest, it wasn’t love at first sight. I tried to force it into my office, because I thought that would be the right place for an avant garde, color-rich piece. Not so much. It hung there awkwardly. So I cleared some space in my home to hang it in one of our hallways. Ahhhhhh. Deep sigh. It’s settled in there and continued to open my mind to it ever since. We’ve developed a relationship – this piece and me. Just like I did over all those exchanges with Magda before deciding I wanted a piece from her. And her piece she picked for me continues that thread, through its colors, shapes and lines. The aesthetics of it are fantastic – and have been lauded by a number of guests and other curators who’ve been over to the house.

Since the open call, I’ve continued to stay in touch with Magda – and like I said, some of the other artists who applied – and she told me that my purchase of her artwork through the platform enabled her to pay for her trip to Australia. She’d just won a World Heritage artist’s residency at the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre from a pool of over 40 international applicants. She’s now coming upon her exhibition and wrote me in as a supporter! I cannot tell you how much I appreciate this and how I value this friendship we’ve developed over this common passion for art.

Naturally, as Magda continues to develop as an artist I look forward to continuing to hear more about her path and support as I can with reviews, recommendations and perhaps collecting additional pieces. I cannot wait to see where she goes from here and through the Works.io platform we’ve been able to develop this friendship around artwork.

A wise person wrote, “Art is a way of contemplating life by your thoughts and conceptions, it can play a big role in your life (if you let it), it’s a spiritual path, and it gives you the strength to believe in yourself as a metaphor for reality.”