Painting Cycles
The cycles share a common inspiration — most often Jacek Kaczmarski’s work, but also poetry by writers close to me, and in one case, Argentine tango. Each is its own journey, made up of many paintings.
- Ikarus’s Flight — 17 works painted between 2004 and 2006, each set to a Jacek Kaczmarski song.
- Manuscripts — 12 works inspired by manuscripts of Kaczmarski’s songs.
- The Eighth Circle — 19 works to Kaczmarski’s “Epitaph for Vladimir Vysotsky” and the Vysotsky songs in his repertoire.
- Between Flower and Scent — flowers painted as an attempt to capture what’s fleeting.
- Between Sketch and Work — paintings inspired by the poetry of poet friends.
- Tangled Up in Tango — a cycle bridging painting and Argentine tango.
- In progress — more cycles I’m currently working on.
My inspirations
(…) And you — sow. Perhaps something will grow.
And you — whatever grows — gather it in.
And you — honour what lives joyfully,
And you — respect what is dying.
And remember — for memory was given to you:
Don’t lie to yourself, and no one will lie to you.— from Jacek Kaczmarski’s song “Niech” (“Let It Be”)
Jacek Kaczmarski’s music and lyrics have been with me for as long as I can remember. At first I used them in what you might call the traditional way — playing them on the guitar. I practised that for many years and never expected my fascination with Kaczmarski’s work to turn into something more. But it did. I honestly don’t remember exactly when I decided to paint my first picture to one of his songs. I only remember that it was a big challenge, and that it was probably only thanks to him that I had the courage to take it on.
But my story has to start at the beginning. My two passions — playing the guitar and painting — appeared at around the same time in my life. Yet for years I couldn’t find the bond between them that seems so obvious to me today. My first steps in painting were taken somewhat blindly: first modelling myself on others, often copying. Then came a moment when I began to look for my own solutions. Very shyly at first, I took steps towards freeing myself from the perspective other painters had adopted. More and more, I felt that perspective was “not mine.”
I don’t think I would ever have reached my goal — certainly not so quickly — without the painting classes and plein-airs led by Jacek Bukowski. I was very lucky to meet this artist, who showed me the path that eventually led me to what I can call my own style. But I still needed a strong impulse, an inspiration, something that would stir my feelings and emotions so powerfully that I could pour them onto the canvas. And that is when, almost “naturally,” my first works to Kaczmarski’s songs began to appear. The music that had accompanied me for so many years was — and still is — a source of deep emotion for me. That is probably the secret of my “liberation”: there was simply so much emotion in me that I couldn’t hold it back any longer. Having practised the right techniques, I simply had to start turning feelings into paintings.
This catharsis of sorts has so far produced three cycles. The first consists of 17 works; I titled it “Ikarus’s Flight.” The story of Icarus told in the song of that name is, to me, an allegory of Kaczmarski’s life — a man who, though he is gone, managed to fulfil my dream. For this cycle I chose the songs closest to my heart.
The second cycle, which I first had the pleasure of showing to a wider audience in April 2010 at the KADR gallery run by Anna Sobol in Warsaw, is called “Manuscripts.” Its origin was my discovery, on a website devoted to Kaczmarski’s work, of scans of his handwritten manuscripts. Being able to look, in a sense, at how the bard’s songs came into being moved me deeply. This time, beyond the emotions that come from the songs themselves, I wanted the paintings to capture the “atmosphere” of the manuscripts. So the paintings read like notes, from which you can make out the thoughts and feelings I had from the moment I stood before a blank canvas to those the finished work stirred in me.
The next cycle, “The Eighth Circle,” draws on songs by J. Kaczmarski and Vladimir Vysotsky — specifically the Vysotsky songs Kaczmarski translated and performed. It consists of 19 works.
Although I have now painted almost 50 pictures inspired by Kaczmarski, his work is still my inspiration. You can’t stop when you are filled with courage and a sense of fulfilment: And you — sow. Perhaps something will grow…!
P.S. Every painting in the “cycles” section comes with the song’s lyrics and — where still available — a link to a recording by J. Kaczmarski and P. Gintrowski, as an inseparable complement and the source of emotion both in creating the work and in experiencing it.