7 Questions for Polish Artist Paulina Olowska on Her New Paintings Inspired by Female Film Stars The artist's new show "30 Minutes Before Midnight" is currently on view at Simon Lee, Hong Kong. Paulina Olowska, 30 Minutes Before Midnight (2021). Courtesy of Simon Lee. Paulina Olowska is an excavator of the past. The Polish artist scours histories looking for hidden clues and meanings that we may have missed during the lived moment itself. She’s painted idyllic utopias of the post-war era, and in one series, titled “Applied Fantastic,” she painted a set of postcards from the 1980s that featured women posing in patterned sweaters—a relic of life in the Cold War era.