“In black and white I feel like a fish in water”

Luiza Poreda, 25 May 2021

Piotr Kamieniarz is an artist born in 1964, he lives and works in Salomin near Lublin. This artist has no art education, and yet drawing and painting is his passion, in which he reveals extraordinary talent and individuality. One of Piotr Kamieniarz’s paintings appeared in the catalog of the 3rd Sacrum Profanum Auction, which will be held on Friday, June 18, 2021 at the Art in House Auction House.

 

He has an intuitive approach to drawing and painting, he says, and he almost always experiments.

– If in black and white I feel like a fish in water, then in colors a bit like a child in a fog. The advantage of this is that there is still a lot to discover. The essentials that I use are acrylic, feather and watercolor pencils, or even watercolor paint. The drawing is made on my favorite paper – fabriano accdamia 200 mg. First, I create a sketch, on top of it I apply an acrylic paint “antique white”. Later comes a pen, a crayon, scratching the resulting image with a knife, then another layer is applied again. In a word – the fun is great – says Piotr Kamieniarz in an interview for the “Post Scriptum” quarterly.

 

Piotr Kamieniarz – beginnings

Piotr Kamieniarz started drawing in the nineties of the last century. The first works were done mainly with a pencil. After some time, this technique ceased to be sufficient for him and the artist began his adventure with the pen, which he uses very skillfully to this day. He focused on independent development, because he has always been convinced that the art school helps in learning painting techniques, but it will never be an element stimulating the so-called “God’s spark”. He even believes that the authority of an academic teacher may be an obstacle to individual development.

– Because there is always a relationship between the great and the less, the experienced with the inexperienced, power and submission (…) And art is an individual view of the world, color, line. There can be no interference like this: this line cannot be here. Yes, it can, because this is my view and my view of the world. Summing up, the school is certainly able to create a good craftsman, but is it an artist? I don’t think so – said Piotr Kamieniarz in an interview with “Post Scriptum”.

The artist believes that it is the fascination with painting that influences someone’s creativity rather than the suggestions of professors at the academies.

His first collective exhibition took place in the German KK gallery in Essen, where artists such as R. Topor, G. Helnwein, V. Stelzmann and J. Grutzke presented their works. Piotr Kamieniarz recalls this event as an extraordinary experience.

– I never thought that I would be in such good company. This rarely happens in galleries in Poland. The first question I was asked in a gallery in Krakow was “did you study at the Academy of Fine Arts?” If the answer was no, then you weren’t even viewing the pictures. Similarly in Warsaw. People in galleries don’t even bother to get to know the creator. They have no curiosity to see what is hidden in the briefcase of a man who wants to show them something – says the artist in “Post scriptum”.

 

From Surrealism to German Expressionism

The first art passion of Piotr Kamieniarz was surrealism – it was from the first contact with the works of Salvador Dali and Zdzisław Beksiński that his fascination with art began. In the artist’s paintings one can see elements common to the works of artists considered to be contemporary surrealists, such as the aforementioned Beksiński, or Duda-Gracz, Stasys Eidrigevicius, Topor, or even a Swiss painter, the creator of the character of “Alien” from Ridley Scott’s film – H.R. Giger. You can also see here the connotations with the German expressionism of the 1930s – the one shown in paintings and the cinematography of the time.

– For me, it is a realistic, but masked, distorted world, presented a bit perversely, a bit with humor. Humor or grotesque characters are there to lighten the severity of the subject. I think a sense of humor is a very important part of human existence. Not looking at the world positively, but looking with a sense of humor – says the artist in an interview with “Post scriptum”.

As Kamieniarz recalls, his galerist in Germany, who was friends with R. Topor, stated that both artists are mentally similar, they have a similar sense of humor, but the lines are completely different.

– Beksiński is a fantastic line in his drawings, Duda Gracz – fantastic spots. I am saying this of course from my point of view. Added to this is an individual, free way of looking at the world – adds Piotr Kamieniarz.

 

Where are all these stories coming from?

Each painting by Piotr Kamieniarz is an individual story, usually filled with emotions. As the artist says, these stories are born in his head by themselves, they are hidden in it, it is enough to reach for them.

– I have the title in my head, too, before starting work, but my drawings provide room for interpretation. I do not know if it is good to give titles, because it is suggesting an interpretation for the recipient. In Beksiński, however, I lacked titles as prompts for interpretation. But maybe you need to make a little effort and rely more on your own thinking? I don’t know which is better. I think I chose an indirect way, trying to give titles that are not entirely obvious. But maybe that’s just what it seems to me? – the artist wonders.

Visit the gallery of Piotr Kamieniarz’s paintings at Art in House