Close-ups. Sketches on Polish Artists is a collection of commentaries on the art of nearly fifty Polish artists whom the author has met in her professional life. Short essayist forms are intended to reach people outside the narrow circle of professionals. It is a very personal, though incomplete diary of encounters with art. This intimate subjectivism makes the encounter with works that the average recipient does not always seem understandable, easier and - importantly - helps to understand the artistic credo of their authors. “I have been working with artists for many decades. This cooperation does not always result in exhibitions, often it ends with introductions to catalogs or small articles in which I try to name what they do. Most of them are short, written in as simple a language as possible; I wanted them to reach people from outside the narrow circle of professionals. I am counting on a random reader, hoping that they will become interested in the art I am writing about and understand the artist who creates this art. " Anda Rottenberg introduces the works of both the classics of modernity - Stanisław Fijałkowski, Jerzy Nowosielski and Alina Szapocznikow, as well as less known, younger artists - Martyna Ścibior, Bogna Burska, Dominik Lejman. The choice of names - as she writes in the introduction - is the result of "random coincidences of circumstances". It does not fully reflect her fascinations, because there are many more...