Stanislas Kostka’s paintings address this question by asserting that timeless universal truths are formed in enlivening through contemporary interpretation and imaginative recapitulation, the colors and compositions of Dutch 17th century masters of floral and still-life painting.

To this discipline, Kostka adds a particular contemporary humor. Coming in close to the surface of his canvases surreal details are revealed.

Created with the patient application of a single hair of his brush, such particularities as an ant smoking, playing golf and lovemaking in the shadow of flowers and fruit or upon the delicate curves of a leaf.

Here Kostka brings contemporary shock of the new into details that subvert the initial traditional impression of his compositions.

For him the human heart, imagination and human condition as experienced and expressed by these visual poets is the light back from the darkness of contemporary obscurities in artistic styles.