Jacek Yerka - meet the artist

Karolina Jankowska

A cheerful, smiling, middle-aged man who's talking with excitement about how he collects stones, works in the garden and listens to audiobooks. This peaceful image sharply contrasts with the amazing paintings he creates.

In order to better comprehend Jacek Yerka, his worldview, and the reasons behind his decision to use this particular painting technique, one must conduct a real case study. Like Freud, one has to dig into the depths of his subconscious and ask about childhood memories... 

Jacek's school years weren't very happy. His peers in elementary school teased him because he was sensitive, withdrawn, and shunned sports. While his classmates passionately played football, the artist would sit on the side and lose himself in his own fantasy world. He always carried a small knife and a pencil. Instead of kicking the ball, Jacek focused on sculpting as well as sketching hundreds of boats, figures' heads, and fantastic masks. Teachers tolerated his joyful creative work, even during the classes, because he had good split attention and performed well in school. The bullies from his class left him alone when Jacek painted their portraits, with the boys finding their depictions pleasing. The artist had no friends among his peers, he would go home immediately after school. As far back as the artist can remember, his house has always smelled like paint, paper, and brushes. It was the creative world of his parents, painters. However, Jacek never identified with their art.

Mr. and Mrs. Kowalski met at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. Jacek's father was renowned for his extraordinary creativity; he would come up with original ideas out of the hat, and his mother was the executive body of these amazing visions. Both of his parents' talents were passed down to their son, which did not always work out well for him. He frequently received reprimands from his domineering grandfather for unintentionally damaging his possessions when the artist created his works. The adored grandmother, Wanda, was the answer to the family rows. She never yelled at Jacek and resolved all conflicts. Her patience with him was heavenly. He felt the best with his grandmother, being able to create without any restraints. To everyone's surprise, Jacek made the decision not to follow in the footsteps of his parents due to his unpleasant memories of being frequently teased by his classmates. He came to the conclusion that being an artist only causes trouble. The creator decided he wanted to become a doctor or an astronomer. This plan made some sense, as he was born in Toruń in 1952, the same city where the brilliant astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus had been born five centuries earlier!

Soon, Jacek was about to discover the universe. One that neither astronomers nor philosophers could have ever imagined. Finally, the creator followed his heart and enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts, where he was met with an astonishment akin to that of the stockbroker's who had spent years working in a bank, had a wife, a lavish home, and five children. The stockbroker's name was Paul Gauguin, and one day, Jacek decided to give up his stable life for the uncertain fate of an artist. While it is unknown what inspired Gauguin, we are aware of what inspired young Jacek Kowalski. Paul Cézanne and Paul Klee were the artist's gurus while he was at university. During the art history classes, he studied the works by the 15th- and 17th-century Dutch representatives of naïve art: Jan van Eyck and Hieronim Bosch. Young Jacek was incredibly delighted by their art. He then made the decision to paint just like them, employing the same techniques. The professors were perplexed by this fascination and didn't grade the artist's works well. They explicitly advised him to paint in a more contemporary, abstract style. Jacek Kowalski did not let go of his artistic DNA, but he started creating under a different name. From then on, he would be known as Jacek Yerka. After creating a new artistic identity, he started to go against the grain once more, experimenting and, just like when he was a child, letting his fantasy run wild. The artist eventually became aware that he was misunderstood by the professors. Rejected Yerka set the brushes aside. Although Prof. Edmund Piotrowicz noticed his talent and appreciated that the young artist had a clear vision of his work, Yerka still decided to leave the studio. In his second year of studies, Jacek changed his artistic technique. He started dealing with printmaking, discovering his hidden talent. Yerka was excellent in chalcography. He had even more talent for creating posters, as proven by his first place in the 1972 poster competition celebrating the Polish Hunting Association's 50th anniversary. Yerka spent his prize money on publishing exquisite albums featuring the works of his two greatest masters, Dürer and Bosch. In 1976, he obtained a master's degree in printmaking. At that point, his artistic career gained momentum. It is important to note some of the most intriguing projects in which Jacek Yerka took part, and they were quite unusual indeed... While Poland was in the murky depths of communism and later saw the gloomy beginnings of capitalism, Jacek Yerka tempted people with his colorful paintings. It was the right strategy. In 1994, the "Mind Fields" album was created-a collection of 30 science fiction short stories by Harlan Ellison, which were based on canvases by Jacek Yerka!

A year later, in 1995, Jacek Yerka defeated 300 competitors, winning the prestigious World Fantasy Award. In 1998, the "Strawberry Fields" science fiction film was made in cooperation with Hollywood, with Yerka designing the characters, organic machine-creatures, and surreal landscapes. Already back then, owning a canvas by Jacek Yerka was synonymous with good taste.

Although those times have fortunately passed and the Polish landscape has undergone significant changes, it is still worth letting your imagination run wild and making the upcoming winter more pleasurable with Yerka's colorful paintings. You can imagine, for instance, how trees and mushrooms grow in the kitchen, nenuphars appear in the bathtub, and a forest grows on the cupboard. In his paintings, Jacek Yerka invites you to such wild fun. It is difficult to imagine that someone can have such a rich imagination when one looks at these incredibly colorful, laborious, and elaborate works. Lizard-tailed hunchbacks, shell Venices, strawberry trees, river dams made of bookcases, and cities established in treetops these are just a few examples of Yerka's colorful and fairytale world. Instead of trying to analyze everything, let's just escape from the murky real world and immerse ourselves in the fantastical realm. The world that gave the artist peace ever since he was young. His paintings can give us the same if we only try to feel them.