Karma Doesn't Exist Painting

When I was a child, my greatest happiness was retreating into solitude and drawing. Some sad events marked my early years, so I believe that expressing myself through art was healing - back in a time before child psychologists. I also grew up in a family of artists, so the scent of turpentine and the joy of artistic creation felt natural to me. Today, I paint without limitations, often exploring and refusing to be bound by a single style. I believe my spirit speaks many "languages," and I am grateful when I can capture a vision, feeling, or story - freezing it in time on canvas. ... Koraljka Polaček is a painter and art educator, born in 1969 in Zagreb, Croatia. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 1998. Koraljka worked and exhibited at the family art studio in Baška, on the island of Krk (1995–2003). The studio was established in the early 1960s by her great-grandmother, ceramicist Katarina Pezer, and later became her grandfather Slavko Marić’s painting studio in the 1980s. Koraljka began exhibiting her work during her student years, and to date, she has held 45 solo exhibitions. After graduating, she taught art in Zagreb (1998–2007) and later on the island of Cres, where she moved in 2007 and lived until 2023. Koraljka has always been passionate about animals, especially cats. While living on Cres, she organized a feral cat protection initiative, which deeply influenced her artistic expression. Since then, cats have become the main motif of her work, which she calls "Mackoslike" (a Croatian term meaning "cat paintings"). In 2023, she moved to the city of Rijeka, where she now lives and works as a full-time artist. Koraljka has been a member of the Croatian Association of Artists (HDLU) since 1998. Her paintings are part of private collections in Croatia and abroad, especially in the homes of cat lovers. ...