Jacek Yerka (born Jacek Kowalski in 1952) is a Polish

surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...

painter from

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. Yerka's work has been exhibited in Poland, Germany, Monaco, France, and the United States, and may be found in the museums of Poland.

Early life

Jacek Yerka was born in Toruń, Poland, in 1952. He was born into an artistic family with both his parents graduates from a local Fine Art Academy. His earliest memories were of paints, inks, paper, erasers and brushes. As a child, Yerka loved to draw and make sculptures. He hated playing outside, and preferred to sit down with a pencil, creating and exploring his own world. This difference between the other children in his primary school led to social problems with his peers and Yerka describes his primary school life as being a "grey, sometimes horrifying reality". However, Yerka later became 'untouchable' in his high school due to his clever sketches of the school's worst bullies.

Life in the Academy

Yerka had never intended to be an artist like his parents and was considering doing astronomy or medicine. However, a year before his final exam, he decided for the first time to try working with paint, which resulted in his decision to study fine art and graphic design instead. According to Yerka, during his period studying in the academy he was pressured by his instructors to eschew detail and realism in favor of the fashion of the times - but did not relent, adhering to the meticulous classic

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

technique that still typifies his work. In time they came to see him as a brilliant - though troubled - talent. During his studies at the academy, each day was split into two sections. In the morning and afternoon he had to do tests, projects and attend lectures, and during the evening he was given a couple hours to work at a painting that was shown only to his family and friends. He graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts at

Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń or NCU ( pl, Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu, UMK) is located in Toruń, Poland. It is named after Nicolaus Copernicus, who was born in Toruń in 1473.printmaking.

Life as an artist

Yerka began working full-time as an artist in 1980. He had several contracts with galleries in Warsaw and also worked for commissions. He cites

Hieronymus Bosch Hieronymus Bosch (, ; born Jheronimus van Aken ; – 9 August 1516) was a Dutch/ Netherlandish painter from Brabant. He is one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school. His work, generally oil on o ...

, Pieter Bruegel,

Cagliostro Count Alessandro di Cagliostro (, ; 2 June 1743 – 26 August 1795) was the alias of the Italian occultist Giuseppe Balsamo (; in French usually referred to as Joseph Balsamo). Cagliostro was an Italian adventurer and self-styled magician. ...

, Jan van Eyck, and

Hugo van der Goes Hugo van der Goes (c. 1430/1440 – 1482) was one of the most significant and original Early Netherlandish painting, Flemish painters of the late 15th century. Van der Goes was an important painter of altarpieces as well as portraits. He introduce ...

as formative influences on his work. His subject matter ranges from odd beasts to whimsical landscapes incorporating extraordinary architecture, and includes imagery gleaned from his childhood, such as his grandmother's kitchen. Says Yerka, "For me, the 1950s were a kind of Golden Age ... If I were, for instance, to paint a computer, it would definitely have a pre-war aesthetic to it." In 1990, Yerka received a contract with Hollywood producer Renee Daalder to design figures, monster-machines and surreal landscapes for the science fiction film Strawberry fields. The film planned to combine both Yerka's work with songs from

the Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...

and Yerka participated in the first stage of its production. Work typically progresses from a

graphite Graphite () is a crystalline form of the element carbon. It consists of stacked layers of graphene. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions. Synthetic and natural graphite are consumed on lar ...

sketch, to

crayon A crayon (or wax pastel) is a stick of pigmented wax used for writing or drawing. Wax crayons differ from pastels, in which the pigment is mixed with a dry binder such as gum arabic, and from oil pastels, where the binder is a mixture of wax a ...

drawing, then a pastel com, and finally an

acrylic painting Acrylic paint is a fast-drying paint made of pigment suspended in acrylic polymer emulsion and plasticizers, silicone oils, defoamers, stabilizers, or metal soaps. Most acrylic paints are water-based, but become water-resistant when dry. De ...

. Yerka solicits input on developing works from his wife and four daughters.

Awards

World Fantasy Award for Best Artist In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

, 1995 * Awarded an honorary paver placard by the city of Toruń, June 24, 2008

References

External links