Daria Solar

Contest entry

Video https://drive.google.com/file/d/1djktie7laN0yzMcv7PL9dOu-5W1cVUZD/view?usp=sharing

Title: To Paint the Atom – Triptych “Melody of Lights”

This triptych is the result of the artist's extraordinary journey to the heart of Poland’s only atomic reactor – “Maria” in Świerk. Based on original photographs taken on-site, the paintings depict the distorted reflection of light on the surface of reactor water. What may appear at first glance as an abstract play of form and color, is in fact shaped by the physical phenomenon of the Cerenkov effect — a luminous glow caused by charged particles moving faster than light in water. This visual anomaly is a real-life trace of subatomic activity, offering a rare window into the stochastic nature of nuclear processes.

By capturing this radiation-induced distortion, the artist translates complex patterns of diffusion and transformation into poetic visual language. The subtle blue glow, refracted and scattered across the water’s surface, becomes a melody of lights — echoing the unpredictable yet beautifully ordered behavior of particles governed by the laws of quantum physics.

The work pushes the theme of anomalous mathematical patterns into new territory — blending scientific truth with human perception, and turning invisible forces into an emotional and symbolic experience of light, motion, and depth.

Artist biography

Daria Solar is a technological symbolist painter whose work investigates the emblematic relationship between humanity and technology—including artificial intelligence—through two distinctive artistic cycles.

In her Electric Beings series, Solar creates ambiguous, neo-human characters entangled in complex relationships with AI. These works reflect not only the scientific achievements of our age, but also its geopolitical tensions, ethical dilemmas, and existential risks. In contrast, her Internal Landscapes series celebrates the aesthetic and symbolic power of machines, offering a glimpse into the micro-world of computer circuitry as well as monumental structures such as Poland’s atomic reactor Maria. These richly layered, neo-abstract compositions evoke the mysterious beauty of our metal companions.

Based in Łódź, Poland, Daria Solar is both an artist and educator. She was part of the creative team behind the Oscar-nominated film Loving Vincent. She holds degrees in English Studies and Artistic Computer Graphics from the University of Information Technology in Łódź and has most recently completed an intensive painting program at the New York Academy of Art.

Solar is also the Artistic Director of Polish Artists in the Lunar Codex, a group show of artists featured in a groundbreaking project that places digitized artworks—including her own—on the Moon as part of a permanent archive of humanity’s creative heritage.