“In paintings, I try to show the truth hidden in simplicity and...

Luiza Poreda, 12 April 2021

Adam Kołakowski (born in ’81) is a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań, and during his studies his education included graphics, illustration, poster, painting and sculpture. He was a lab assistant in a woodcutting workshop, he completed a scholarship at the American University in Knoxville, and his works gained particular popularity among the American and Canadian Polish diaspora.

On April 16, 2021, during the jubilee 50th New Art Auction at the Art in House Auction House, you will be able to bid on one of the latest paintings by Adam Kołakowski, entitled “Dream of Travelling Birds”.

 

Painting and sculpture: the greatest passion

During your studies, you developed various artistic skills. Why did you choose painting and sculpture? Where does the passion for these two methods of artistic expression come from?

– Painting has always been with me, since childhood. I was fascinated by colors, tools, structures, shapes and forms. Especially that I grew up in the gray and concrete of deep communism, in the eighties, when crayons were bought from under the counter, because on the shelves, apart from pale blue notebooks with an equally faded blue checkered pattern, there was nothing. Today it is probably hard to believe, but I only learned about the fact that there are shops for artists in the penultimate grade of primary school (laughs). I think that my passion for sculpture and painting determined the times of my childhood – stubbornness dictated by constant hunger, and above all the desire to create my own, magical world, so different from the one outside the window.

 

 

What did you do during your research fellowship at the University of Knoxville in the United States?

– I went to the USA as a scholarship holder of the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań, i.e. my Alma Mater. The stay in Knoxville lasted a month. I was greatly impressed by the studios filled with all kinds of materials for work. It made me totally dissonant, especially since there was one roller in our Poznań studio, for which we made entries before the session (laughs). And that was where the plethora of tools and materials ended. American students weren’t really interested in learning more techniques, so they just didn’t come to class. In the United States, I had two exhibitions, to which I managed to invite representatives of the American Polonia – one official, one workshop in graphics, and the other unofficial – my canvases, brought in a tube from Poland. Right after the official opening, I spread my paintings on the floor. And believe me – I haven’t seen such euphoria in a long time, and all my works have been sold. In the crowd, my attention was caught by an elderly woman staring at them. I walked over to her and we started talking. It turned out that she came from the Polish borderlands, and in my art she found her most tender memories. It touched her very much.

Longing for the old world

What are you painting about? What is the simplicity that you talk about and which you try to show in your works?

– In my paintings I try to show the truth inherent in simplicity, stop time, save the memory of things that we will soon know only from the stories told by our grandparents. I try to capture the atmosphere of the moment, the accompanying emotions, thoughts and reflections. I admit that I miss this – the old world, when the rhythm of life was dictated by the rhythm of nature, when people found time for each other, focusing on the relationships connecting them, without dealing with businesses, “deadlines”, “asaps”, ways to achieve targets, even over dead bodies. I miss this (after) freedom of life. For the truth about food – products and their processing, without chemicals and enhancers, for good wine that requires time and appropriate conditions, for education that supports and shows new horizons, without generating stress, pressure and competition. I want this simplicity so much that I follow the straightest path myself. The simplest, it does not mean the smoothest, the most comfortable, because it is often difficult, arduous and demanding, but it is certainly the way of the heart.

 

 

You can see in your works a longing for what is idyllic, timeless and dreamlike. What exactly do you miss?

– I want to show the audience the truth, both about what silently disappears from the landscape, dissolves in the fog of what is “here and now”, losing shape, expression and meaning – and about what cannot be restored or recreated. I pay attention to people and their feelings, which are often overlooked and unnoticed on a daily basis – with a grain of salt, commenting on reality in a slightly non-obvious way. People long for the truth, they need it just as they need their place, their roots, to know who and where they are from. I also show the truth about myself, because being an artist is a very responsible job.

 

Coming soon: an exhibition at Art in House

What are your artistic plans for the next months?

– I know from experience that it is difficult to plan something when the heart dictates the idea of what is to be created on the canvas quite strongly on an ongoing basis. I think there will be a lot of “relaxing”, maybe vacation topics, because I’m already on vacation. And from such more practical plans, I am completing the works for the exhibition in Warsaw, which will be held at the headquarters of the Art in House Auction House. I am going to present 15 – 20 paintings with one large sculptural work, which could be a strong dominant for the exhibition.

Thank you for the interview.

We invite you to participate in the jubilee 50th Auction of New Art  at the Art in House Auction House in Warsaw, which will take place on April 16, 2021.

See full auction catalog.